


Run To You | l.s

by medicineshome



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, One Direction (Band), The Maze Runner (Movies), The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: M/M, Mazerunner - Freeform, boyxbox, dylmas - Freeform, larrystylinson, newtmas - Freeform, peterparker, sebastianstan - Freeform, tomhiddleston - Freeform, tomholland, ziammayne
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-15
Updated: 2019-01-10
Packaged: 2019-05-04 22:16:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 24,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14602881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/medicineshome/pseuds/medicineshome
Summary: "I promised him!" He screamed, realizing even as he did so, his voice was laced with something different, something he didn't recognize.  "I promised I'd save him and take him home! I promised!"orWhere Harry and Louis try to survive the Maze for one night and everything changes.





	1. ◈ 1.1

**Author's Note:**

> ◈ This book is inspired on the Maze Runner books and movies, it has similar scenes that you'll recognize from the books but all the writing stuff is mine.
> 
> ◈ This book is divided into three different parts that represent the three different movies; First Part (escaping the Maze), Second Part (passing the scorch), Third Part (getting home).
> 
> ◈ Places and jobs inside the Glade are taken from the books so copyrights go to James Dashner.
> 
> ◈ All definitions from the places and jobs will be at the end of the chapters they're mentioned or explained while they're being mentioned.
> 
> ◈ Includes quotes that I don't have credits on, example Maze Runner Books, Marvel, and Larry quotes.
> 
> ◈ Quick plot;  
> "Harry was the first to arrive in the Maze and he built everything. He started to notice patterns such as the box coming up every month with a new guy. He established rules and learned how to be a leader.  
> Louis comes up the box, one day, all scared and confused. Harry, as a leader, helps him along with the other Gladers. Louis gets trapped inside the Maze for being curious and Harry enters before the walls can close.  
> They spend the whole night trying to survive and everything changes from there"
> 
> ◈ First chapters are smaller cause it has more definitions than action.
> 
> ◈ I've been planning this for a long long time and I usually screw up every fanfic I do but I decided to try anyway! Hope everyone enjoys it and also helps me get better along the way! x

["Welcome to hell"](http://picsart.com/i/271990734025201)

**First Part; Escaping the Maze**

Harry speeded up, always making sure Liam was right behind him, and he turned the last corner of the Maze before he passed through the doors, arriving at the Glade. He bent over, leaning on his knees to regulate his breath and, seconds after, he saw Liam do the same on his left which made him smile to his best friend.

"On your left" Liam joked and Harry laughed, straightening his body and giving Liam a slight push.

Liam kept running, more slowly, to the homestead, on the North West of the Glade, while Harry just stood on his spot, looking at his surroundings, thinking how they achieved and conquered in two long years. Looking back, Harry could proudly say everything they conquered was with hard work, unfortunately, they lost a lot during it but with teamwork and together being a family Harry knew they could go through anything.

Two years ago, Harry arrived to an empty Glade, with nothing but the clothes on his body, some condiments that were in the Box with him and some tools. He was completely lost, his memory wiped, his heart completely shattered and all he could feel was fear.

The first week, Harry just wandered around every corner, crying in fear and starting to feel that he would die soon without food or water but that was also the time all that was passing through Harry's head was two simple questions; why am I still alive? Is it worth keep living? The second week Harry decided that it was time to explore the stuff that came up with him and he found some seeds, paper, some kind of pencils, shovels, wood and a couple other tools. Harry then decided to divide the Glade into four sections. The Gardens on the North East where they were going to grow crops and pump water; The Homestead on the North West where they would sleep and keep their equipment for the jobs; The Blood House on the South East where they would raise livestack and also slaughter them; The Deadheads on the South West where a small forest area was. The third week, Harry already had some food so he could fool his hungry stomach and he gained some courage to enter the Maze and explore for a bit before he almost got stuck inside. By the fourth week, the Box came up again with a new guy and new condiments.

Liam arrived one month after him and they quickly got used to each other, becoming friends almost instantly. Liam helped Harry with his plans, the Maze, and also came up with great ideas to improve the Glade. The third month arrive and Dylan came with it, as soon as he arrived he noticed the others names on their dirty shirts while in a panic attack. Took Dylan two weeks to get 'used' to the situation and to start helping Harry and Liam with everything. Together they built two sections of the Glade, plus a little high spot in the middle so they could see everything around. By the third arrival, Jason, everyone had a job to do. Harry would look out for an exit on the Maze, Liam would keep building and Dylan would cook. Jason was finding what to do there and by the time Peter came up, Jason was a runner with Harry.

Two years passed as slowly as it possibly could. They built the Glade to look something close to a home, which of course only worked with the help and support of everyone. Of course, they couldn't picture the places they came from or who put them in there or even know if the names printed on their initial clothes were their real names. The initial trio, Harry, Liam, and Dylan keep ruling and helping every single glader and also every greenie. Harry was 'promoted' to leader since he was the first to arrive and the first to actually try to make something out of the Glade. Liam and Dylan also became runners. Thomas, arrived four months after Dylan, and like every Greenie, had to help in every job on the Glade to know what he was good at, what turned out to be inside the Maze. Unfortunately, a year after Thomas was put as a runner, he got tangled up and broke his leg, so he went to medbay instead.

Harry, Liam, and Dylan are pretty close to each other since they are the three original gladers. They saw twenty Greenies come up the Box and saw five lose their way, they saw themselves taking care of every single person inside that Glade so they could feel warm inside while also feeling less empty and confused. Harry is the one with more jobs in the Glade, by choice, since he kept feeling that like a leader he should have more height on his shoulders. Liam is a Runner but also helps Zayn with his jobs as a builder and a bricknick. Dylan dedicates his days on the garden and is also a true help to Harry in terms of keeping eyes on the ones who don't respect the Glade's rules.

Harry looked to his side seeing Dylan helping Thomas carry some supplies to the medbay which made him smile because he knew that Dylan cares a lot about Thomas and worried even more about him since Thomas had his accident and broke his leg. Harry kept looking around, seeing Liam around Tom, who was making their food, and he laughed to himself, thinking how much those guys meant to him.

And although Harry tries to give his full attention to everyone, he tries to get a little more time with the ones who feel more down and depressed since those are the ones he has to make sure he is not going to lose and has to make sure they feel loved and warmed inside at all times. Unfortunately, two of their losses were results of suicide, inside the Maze while Harry and Liam were there running so they still feel the weight on their shoulders, always thinking they could've prevented it even tho they probably couldn't.

One thing Harry hates the most though is when a Glader calls him boss because; he doesn't just rule, he helps; he doesn't know how it is done to make them figure things out on their own, he shows how it is done when they don't know; he doesn't order a 'go', he says 'let's go'; he never says 'I', he says 'we'; he doesn't command, he asks; he doesn't criticise if the first plan doesn't work out, he makes sure to help with a plan B. Liam and Dylan both know all that about Harry so they like to joke with him and call him 'boss'.

Harry looked back, watching the beginning of the Maze still wondering if they would ever find a way out through there or if it's really any way out of there. Would they put them all in there just for fun? Just to see how long can they live with minimal conditions? If the human mind is good enough to actually build an empire out of just a few materials? If they could pull off whatever they inserted in their brain to make them forget? During the years, Harry always thought he would figure out a lot of question to at least one or two questions all of them have but until that point.

"Hey! Harry!" Harry, quickly, looked at his side when he heard Peter's voice calling for him, and Harry started to walk towards him, seeing his concerned eyes.

"Something wrong?" Harry looked around his 'table' just seeing the usually wooden board Peter uses to cut their meat or fish into pieces before passing it to Tom to cook them, and not seeing anything unusual.

"Do you think the Box will come up soon? We're running out of condiments, I haven't touched any meat on this table for two days and I'm not sure how much more Tom can save up."

"I honestly don't know, Peter..." Harry sighed. "I know this is not what you want to hear, it's not what I want to say to you either and I wish I had a better answer for you but unfortunately we just will have to wait and if we don't get more condiments, guess we are all starting a diet!" Harry joked and Peter laughed a bit.

"I know you don't like to hear this and that you don't have power over the Box bu-"

"Sorry to interrupt you guys!" Liam appeared behind Harry, patting his shoulder. "Zayn finished repairing the Maze room so we already can go there and write down what happened today"

"Let's go then." Harry passed his hand through his hair and looked at Peter once again. "Go eat something kiddo, don't push yourself down, we're going to be fine" Harry smiled at Peter, receiving a small smile back, before he and Liam started their way to the Maze room.

"Is something wrong?" Liam asked while they were walking toward the small round cabin at the beginning of the forest. "With Peter, I mean"

"The kid is worried the Box won't come up in time, we are running out of condiments, lacking animals. Honestly? If we don't get anything, I don't know how many days it's going to take until someone falls down" Harry sighed, visibly concerned.

"Let's not rush ourselves. In a week, if we don't get more stuff, we'll get a solution, we always do" Liam said, trying to convince both Harry and himself.

"There's going to be a time when we won't get one" Harry looked at Liam, that just shrugged. "Okay, let's do this" Harry opened the door to the Maze room and they both entered.

The Maze room is a restrictive part of the Glade that it's only allowed to Harry for being the leader and to Liam for also being the Runner. Although, there is the exception that whoever is with Harry or Liam can also go in since they're there to watch the person. They created that 'rule' to make sure everything inside that room is protected and, even tho they trust everyone in some way, they don't want anyone who gets stung to enter there, grab their plans and run crazily into the Maze.

Along with that one, there are three other restricted areas. The medication cabinet in the medbay for obvious reasons that only Harry and Thomas have access to, the Slammer that is where they lock up for a day or for a couple hours the ones who don't respect the rules that only Harry has access to, and the cabin that they use as warehouse, where they keep the stuff like the things they bring with them to inside the Maze or weapons that they built and received.

Harry looked at the Maze replica in front of them and the paper where they designed the area they ran through today. They knew the walls change inside the Maze because they can hear them move but after the sections rotate the walls go back to the same place. Although, not in the last rotation.

"It's different again. How are we supposed to know the way out if the ways keep changing to completely different patterns? Starting to think they don't want us to actually figure out how to get out" Harry murmured and Liam handed him the paper from the day so Harry put it next to the one he was previously looking, not finding any similarity.

"Things here change quickly and it seems like we can't keep up but we also can't give up"

"I'm never giving up, I'm finding a way out of this hole and I'm taking them home. This is just so confusing! They created a pattern for years and suddenly everything we know from the inside changes. It's frustrating to see that the work we've been doing for two years is turning into nothing."

"Maybe they reason and the similarities and the reason is right under our nose but we're not seeing the full picture here"

"The full picture..." Harry looked around to the other papers hang up on the walls, thinking and examining every single one. "We are not looking at this in the right way" Harry directed his eyes to the new pattern again, picking up the paper. "I don't know what we can do to see this differently bu-" Harry stopped talking as soon as a loud noise started to echo the entire Glade.

"The Box is finally coming up!" Liam murmured, happily. "Let's go meet our new Greenie!" Liam patted both Harry's shoulders before they both left the cabin.

The first thing they saw was all the Gladers leaving what they were doing to gather around the Box but no one was close enough, which was another rule. Liam and Harry ran to the middle of the Glade, passing through the others, hearing some of them teasing Niall about the fact that he wouldn't be the Greenie anymore. Harry looked at Liam when the sound stopped and the metal doors opened by themselves so they could both open the grade underneath it. Harry jumped inside, grabbing the Grennie's wrist to see his pulse and when he saw everything was fine, he nodded to Liam.

"Okay, guys!" Harry stood up, looking at everyone. "You know the drill. I don't want more than one person in here. Thomas, you come with me to the medbay with him and Peter you come with us to bring the medication. Liam, you grab the new clothes and the bedclothes as well. Tom, forme a line and take the cage with the animals out of here. Dylan, you take the seeds. Zayn, you take the wood and Niall help him with the tools. That order, calmly."

When Harry saw everyone nodding to him, he picked the Greenie up in bridal-style, being careful with his head and Liam grabbed Harry's shoulder, helping him get up. Harry saw Peter jumping in the Box before he and Thomas started walking to the medbay.

"Welcome to hell, Greenie."


	2. ◈ 1.2

["I don't remember"](http://picsart.com/i/272054299035201)

 

"Do you promise mommy you'll be a good boy?" Johannah continued to walk through the crowd with her son in her arms and the little boy passed his arms around her mother's neck, scared of the number of people around them.

"Why can't you stay mommy?" The little one murmured while laying his head on his mother's shoulder. "I don't want you to leave" He whispered against her neck like it was some kind of secret between the two of them.

"I can't baby" Johannah stopped as she reached the end of her track, in front of the gates guarded by the WICKD police, and she put the little one on the ground, kneeling in front of him. "Do everything they tell you okay? Obey them like mommy taught you to do. I love you so much baby, never forget that alright?" Johannah held her tears and kissed the baby's head.

"I love you mommy" The little one tried to hug her mom once again but two strong hands grabbed him, pulling him up and when the boy looked up, he felt the fear come back for finding a strange person taking him away from his mother. "Mommy?" He murmured, looking back to where his mom was standing. "I don't want to go mommy" He whispered to himself.

Suddenly, everything went dark and only voices could be heard. Not familiar voices. Voices that he couldn't recognize. Voices saying 'WICKD is good', 'Louis, WICKD only wants good', 'Louis, trust'. Voices that he couldn't connect to any face or to any name.

He stood up, starting to get used to the darkness, his eyes starting to recognize forms in front of him, but he still looked around, in panic, not knowing the place he was standing on. He felt the cold and dusty air, the sound of metal hitting metal, and, suddenly, his head started to get heavy. The place shook, turning his vision cloudy, and Louis just fell down, hitting his head on the metal ground, returning to the blackness.

Louis woke up, suddenly, panting, and he sat up, quickly, looking around the place scared and confused.

"Hey, it's fine! Don't move too much or you'll get dizzy again" The low raspy voice echoed the room and Louis immediately looked at the boy sitting on a chair close to the bed he was on. "I'm Harry, I know you must be confused and you don't remember anything but I was there once and I'll explain everything to you"

"I don't- I want to go now" Louis got up, still feeling his head a little heavy and starting to feel his hands shake along with his body. "What- I... I can't stay."

"You need to calm down, you're still shaking and you can't leave." Harry got up and tried to get closer to Louis but the blue-eyed boy took a couple steps back, with his arms stretched in front of his body. 

"I can't remember anything, why can't I even remember my own name?!" Tears started to pool in Louis' eyes. "I didn't do anything wrong, did I?! What did I do? I'm sorry if it was bad but please don't hurt me!" Louis' hands, still stretched in front of him, started to shake even more with the thought and his whole body wasn't much different.

"I'm not going to hurt you, I promise. I just need you to calm down and let me explain everything to you, okay?" Harry almost begged, thinking no other Glader seemed so desperate like the new Greenie.

Louis looked at Harry for some time before nodding but his hands stayed in front of his body. Harry visibly relaxed a bit, pointing to the chair he was on before, like if asking if the shorter boy wanted to sit, and Louis put down his arms a bit, starting to walk towards the chair but not taking his eyes off Harry.

Not long after, Thomas entered the room and Louis tried to get up to get away but Harry was quicker than him and pushed him down, softly, by the shoulders.  
  
"This is Thomas, he's not going to hurt you, he's just here to help and make sure everything's okay with you" Harry murmured to the scared boy and Louis just nodded, starting to feel that they weren't going to hurt them like he thought they would.

"Right, so, the tests I made came back normal, he's just really scared and agitated. He's good to be presented to the Glade and to everyone else." Thomas said to Harry that nodded in relief and looked at Louis.  
  
"Explaining briefly, this is the Glade, where you're going to live and work now. We basically can't leave but there's a lot of people here to talk to and you'll like everyone. I'm going to take you around the place and present you to the other guys..." Harry explained to Louis. "Can I see the tag on your shirt?" 

Louis nodded, a little confused, before turning around to let Harry twist his shirt to have access to the tag of it. When Louis didn't hear anything, he looked back to see Harry giving Thomas a confused look and a shake of his head.

"Weird... Every Greenie had the name on the tag until now..." Thomas murmured, not knowing what to really do next. "Maybe he'll just remember it in a couple of days, we'll have to wait I guess..."  

Harry sighed and let go of the shorter boy's shirt, frustrated and confused by the fact that everything seemed different with the new Greenie. Thomas wasn't feeling much different and Louis didn't know what was happening or what he should do. All Louis wanted to do was run away but, with a glance through the window, he, immediately, realized he wouldn't know where to go so he stayed there, quiet, deciding to, at least, try trusting the two guys in front of him.   

"Okay, Harry, you should go and show Greenie the Glade and present him to everyone..." Thomas said, looking to the recipient containing Louis' blood, noticing something different.

"Is everything okay with my blood?" Louis asked as soon as he saw Thomas looking weirdly at the recipient.

"Yeah, nothing to worry about." Thomas smiled at Louis but the later didn't seem much convinced. "Believe me Greenie, you wouldn't be here if you had something really bad." 

Louis just nodded, noticing he was doing that a lot since arriving at that yet unknown place, which kept happening because of how scared and confused Louis kept feeling.

"C'mon Greenie, it's time to meet everyone and to know everything about this place." Harry walked to the door, leaving the medbay and Louis gave a busy Thomas, who was already sitting at his desk working, one last look. "Greenie!" Louis was quick to leave the room as he heard Harry's low voice screaming.

Louis looked around finding himself at the end of a small hall with just one door that leads to the room he just came out from. With a few steps, he reached a spiral staircase that he used to get to the bottom floor, where he also saw another closed door and an opened one, leading outside. Louis passed the door, finding Harry standing close, looking at him.   

"Let's start with presenting everyone. They're working so I can also explain the jobs we have here to you so you can understand what you're going to do on your time here." Harry started to walk and Louis ran a few steps to reach and walk beside him. "We are sixteen, counting with you, and I'll introduce you to most of them but some always have a different way to present themselves." Harry looked at the other one, finding a scared look. "It's not bad, don't worry!" Harry smiled and the smaller one felt warm inside for unknown reasons for seeing a strangely familiar dimple.  

Louis looked around, feeling like it wasn't the first time he was looking at that green grass or the tall grey walls surrounding them, and his mind kept telling him he was right about that but he just couldn't understand how he was feeling that and where he saw it. He couldn't even remember his own name but he was sure about that dejá vu feeling, and, only that, was making everything even more confusing to him.   

"Harry..." Louis called, still looking in another direction, and Harry looked at him, seeing that the shorter boy had stopped a couple steps back. "For how long has this place existed?" Louis returned his eyes to the other one. "I feel like I saw this place before."

"Two years... We don't have clocks or ways to remember at what day or year we are living right now or in what day we were put in here, although, there's always someone arriving every month so, counting with you, it's been twenty-one months." Harry explained while the other one started to walk towards him.

"You said there are sixteen people here, counting with me..."

"Not everyone survives this place, Greenie..." Harry sighed, sadly, and Louis tried to hide his scared expression. "Don't worry about that now." Harry and Louis reached an improvised small cabin, that was open in the front and a guy was cooking something. "Are we bothering?" 

"Of course not." Tom looked up, cleaning his hands on his waist apron and his eyes fell on Louis. "Oh, it's presentation time! Hi, I'm Tom, I'm 23, and I work here as a cook like I'm sure you already noticed! I wake up early in the day and I make all the meals. Most of them are my experiments so I can have new recipes and stuff but sometimes we don't get many resources on food so I just use what I have!"   

"Just to clarify, every single one of us came with the same clothes as you and, on the t-shirt, we had our name on the tag and, on the pants, we had our age, but, as you saw me checking, I didn't see anything on yours."

"Weird..." Louis murmured but smiled at Tom. "It's great to meet you!" 

Tom nodded with a smile before excusing himself to continue his job. Harry started to walk again with Louis by his side but both boys didn't know what to say; Harry wanting Louis to set his mind and get at least a little bit used to everything and Louis was doing just that. The faces he was seeing weren't new to him, and he could picture everything inside that place without even seeing it. What he couldn't do was put names on the people's faces or actually know how he knew but, at the same time, didn't know that place. Who puts twenty-one kids trapped with tall walls surrounding them with not many resources? Who has the heart to take them away from their home and wipe all their memories? And for what means?  

"Alright!" Harry stopped close to another cabin but, different from the other, this one was empty.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Louis turned to look around and saw a guy running to them. "Sorry, I wasn't feeling so good." The guy entered from the back of the cabin, stopping on the other side of the little balcony Harry and Louis were leaning on. "Hi! I'm Peter, I'm only 19, and I work here as a Slicer with another guy that I'm sure you'll meet later! We basically work in this section that is called Blood House, we take care of our livestack and we slaughter the animals for food. It's a really harsh job but we need it to survive so." Peter gave Louis a small smile and Louis gave Peter one back.

"Peter is one of our best workers here, he's very dedicated and strong."

"Oh, thank you!" Peter blushed a bit, not completely used to getting compliments, and Louis smiled to how sweet Peter was. "I'm sure you're going to like everyone and everyone will definitely like you!" Louis laughed and nodded in appreciation, feeling he would have a great relationship with every guy in there.

In the next minutes, Louis was introduced to Sebastian who was busy working on the gardens as a track-hoe, Harry explained more about what Thomas does as a med-jack, and Louis also met Zayn who was surrounded by building plans that Louis quickly understood it was because he was the builder and the bricknick of the place, basically being responsible for building or improving and repairing every place in the Glade.   

"There are three people left but the next two I'll present to you together because they're basically my best friends and, with time, I'm sure you are going to hear a couple of stories of us. Us three arrived here first but we're not superior, everyone here is equal, we just power over the rules, everyone's protection, and everyone's health."  

Harry opened the door of the place they were when Louis woke up and they went in, but instead of going up the stairs, like Louis thought they would, they entered the room on the bottom floor that had the door closed when they first left but was open that time. Louis took a look around finding a long table with eight chairs, in which two of them were occupied by two guys. Both with brown hair but one had a couple tattoos and the other didn't have a single one.

"You can just sit Greenie." One of them spoke, rudely, and Louis looked at Harry who just shrugged and pointed to the table with his head.   

"I'm Dylan and this rude klunk* is Liam." The guy without tattoos said and then pointed to the other one with his head. "We're best friends with that boring guy you had to spend the whole day with!" Louis laughed and looked at Harry who was narrowing his eyes, playfully, at Dylan, and when Louis turned again, Dylan winked at him. "Okay, being more serious! Again, my name is Dylan, I'm 23, I was the third Glader to arrive here! I was a Runner, you'll know the definition of that with Liam and more detailed with Harry, but I had to quit and I ended up joining Sebastian as a track-hoe. I also help the boss there with people who disrespect the rules." Dylan explained and Louis tried to hide his laugh when he heard Harry muttering something like 'don't call me that' and 'idiots'.   

"Yeah, right. Sorry if I was so rude, I'm kinda worried about some stuff. I'm Liam and I'm 22. I was the second one to arrive and I'm a Runner with Harry. We basically run into the Maze, you'll know better about that with Harry, so we can try and find a way out, but I also help Zayn sometimes because he's alone on his task."  

"Wait... Way out?" Louis looked at Harry and back to the other two. "You sure there's actually a way out?"

"We can't be completely sure there is, no one gave us any clue, ever." Harry started to explain while he pulled a chair to sit down. "But we're not going to give up on trying, for sure, even if we end up finding nothing at the end of the tunnel."

"This will probably sound like a really stupid question but did anyone try to go down on the metal box?" The three guys looked at each other, confused, before looking back at Louis. "What?"

"How do you know that? You were unconscious when I took you from there."

"Oh, I woke up in there and passed out with the impact..." Louis murmured, a bit scared with the looks the others were giving him.

"Sorry, we've been second guessing everything lately." Harry started. "Uhm... Let's keep going! There's still one person you have to meet, he was the Greenie before you, and we still need to talk about rules and sections." Harry got up and Louis did too. "Thanks, guys. Oh! Greenie here doesn't have a name tag on him." Harry added before softy pulling Louis by his elbow to the outside where a blonde guy was standing, shaking his leg, looking really nervous. 

"Hey, uhm... I kinda don't know what to really say, I'm- I never presented myself because-" The guy started to ramble and Louis smiled to how sweet he seemed.

"It's fine! I guess I just need your name, age, and what you do here" Louis side-eyed Harry who had his arms crossed. "I can't actually say my name or age because I don't know it and apparently I'm not marked! But I get why you're nervous, it's all still new." Louis smiled at the sweet guy in front of him that seemed to relax a bit. 

"Okay, thanks-" The blonde one smiled, shyly. "My name is Niall, I'm the youngest of the place with 18 years old, and I'm, what they like to call, a slopper. I'm basically bad at every other job so I do what the others don't like to do the so-called 'dirty tasks' or housework. It might be the lowest ranked here but it's not that bad actually and-" Niall started to ramble again and Louis laughed, just nodding.   

"Nice to meet you Niall, you're a very sweet guy!" Louis passed his hand on Niall's hair to make him smile. "Well, from what I've seen, I won't be very good at other things too so, make some room for me on those dirty tasks, alright?" Louis winked and Niall smiled even bigger.   

Harry touched Louis' arm, continuing his way, so Louis would follow him and Louis did. Harry walked to the middle of the Glade where Louis could see some kind of mechanism that he deduced to be the box they all came up in. Close to it, Louis saw a medium sized tower where he noticed there were stairs attached to one side. Both boys walked to that side and Louis looked up, before looking at Harry.   

"Are you afraid of heights?" Harry asked, receiving just a shake of the head from Louis. "Go up, but be careful because Zayn has still to repair the stairs, they're a little loose. I'm right behind you."  

Louis just nodded and started his way up, carefully, feeling Harry going up as well. When they reached the top, to a type of platform, the only thing Louis could think about was 'wow' while looking at the view around him. But the thing that caught more his attention was definitely the amazing enormous Maze in front of him.

"This is-" Louis started without actually knowing the best word for it. 

"That might be our only way out... And that's restricted, only Liam and I can go in there because, as he said, we are runners. And that leads me to the rules." Harry leaned his body, supporting his arms on the railing that was protecting them, and everyone who likes to go up there, from falling. " There are three rules you must always follow! First, everyone does their part with no slacks or excuses. Second, never hurt another Glader and always trust the other. Third and the most important one, you never go outside the Glade if you're not a runner. The Maze is a very dangerous place. Now, we have seven sections here." Harry kept talking, straightening his body so he could point around, but Louis wasn't giving him his full attention anymore. "One, the Maze. Two, the Gardens or the North East, where we grew crops and pump water because it never rains."  

"Never?" Louis murmured shocked and Harry laughed, nodding.   

"Three, the Homestead or North West, where we sleep." Harry kept pointing at the zones. "Four, the Slammer, right in the back of our beds, between the North wall and the farm, that we use as a jail for those who don't really respect the rules. Five, the Blood House or South East, where we have our livestack and where Peter does his job. Six, the Deadheads or the South West, where we have our small forest that also has a little cabin no one is allowed in but Liam, Dylan, and I. And seven, it's that mechanism there, in the middle, that we call the Box." Harry turned to Louis again who returned his eyes to the Maze. "I know it's a lot of information to take in but know that you can ask whatever you want."

Louis nodded but he wasn't paying much attention, just thinking how he wanted to see the inside of that Maze and actually explore it. Louis knew Harry would never let him do that but he could freely imagine how every tall wall looked from the inside of that Maze.

Although he was sure no one would notice if he went there for a couple of minutes.

**-x-**

**Klunk* = Crap**


	3. ◈ 1.3

["Greenie"](http://picsart.com/i/272072746016201)

 

The night didn't take long to arrive but Louis' mind was too agitated to let the boy fall asleep, so when the sun started to go up, Louis saw Harry, Liam, and Peter get up to start a new day. He kept his eyes closed when they were preparing themselves, just listening to the movements around him, and, as soon as he heard them getting further away, he reopened his eyes, sitting, while trying to minimize the sounds of his movements so he wouldn't wake up anyone else.  

When the sound of the doors opening echoed the Glade, Louis moved his eyes to the moving walls, completely starstruck on what he was seeing. He stood up, not taking his eyes off what was happening right in front of him and he even felt a hand on his shoulder but he didn't move from where he was standing to look at whoever that hand belonged to. When he arrived the day before, the doors were already closed and he didn't have the opportunity to see it but Harry warned him that he would probably wake up with the loud noise echoing the place. Louis moved his eyes to not so far away as he sensed a gaze on him and he found two big emeralds watching him carefully. 

It was like Louis could hear Harry telling him to be careful during the day, to please remember he couldn't enter the Maze although those exact words were never directed to his person, but, the taller one's voice was precise inside his head.   

"Forget about it." Louis was pulled to reality by Tom's voice, making Louis look at him but Tom was already walking away in the direction of the improvised kitchen.

Louis found himself alone close to the beds, starting to understand that everyone in there starts their days pretty quick and it was something that actually shocked Louis. You would think that being trapped inside that place, knowing there are at least three people who have been looking for a way out for two years but found nothing, would make most of them in there feel down but no, they had more willing to live than Louis at that moment. 

Sighing, Louis changed his dirty shirt to a new one that he knew he had to wear for the whole month until another person would come up the box before he walked to the middle of the Glade. Louis sat on the grass facing the open doors in front of him, actually thinking about how he would enter that place without anyone noticing.   

"It's tempting, I know." Louis looked back, after getting scared, finding Dylan approaching him. "The day I arrived, Liam and I sat in that exact spot looking to those open doors." Dylan sat next to Louis. "It's hard to just sit here while they go in... Believe me, I was inside, helping, for months, and when I had to stop, I suffered a bit. It probably sounds stupid because it 'just running' but no, it's not. I felt useless for a long time but it was my choice, at the end of the day... I chose to follow my heart and my love for helping up close instead of running all day on a place we still don't know nothing about..."   

"What happened?" Louis looked at Dylan, who was just looking ahead.

"Maybe I'll tell you sooner that we both expect!" Dylan looked at Louis and winked at the blue-eyed boy, making him smile. "How are you feeling? I know everything is still very new to you and you seem very curious about this place... Different from a lot that came up, being honest! After me, I don't think anyone sat here just looking at the doors..."

"I feel a bit overwhelmed and still kinda scared because everything just feels off with me... I'm new here but I feel like I knew this before... And it feels like you're all a big family and I came to the middle like an intruder! It's just going to take me a while to get used to being trapped in some way, I guess... I don't even know my own name!"

"I'm sure you're going to remember your name soon, even if it's still quite weird that you were the one without a name tag but that's also good because you'll be the only one to know that you have your true name while everyone else will not be sure until we leave this place or until we actually remember something..."

"That's actually a good way to look at it..." Louis looked at his hands and Dylan sighed.

"Well, just know that I'm here for everything you need, but I ramble a lot!" Dylan joked and Louis laughed. "Learned that with Harry! Or, at least, the Harry he was before..."

"Did he change a lot?" Louis moved his eyes to the entrance of the Maze, like if he could picture Harry running inside.

"I think everyone ends up changing a bit after a while in here... Sometimes we don't even notice but the others do, it's something we can't control being stuck in here... So, yeah, he changed but mostly for good! He grew up, you know? Mentally and physically... He's stronger, in both ways, but sometimes he doesn't notice that he's cold talking with others..."

"How was he before? When you arrived and stuff..."

"He looked like a scared little boy, really tired, wanting to kill me, even tho Liam was here with him for a whole month!" They both laughed. "With time, he got used to what was happening around him, he made up his mind you know? He understood this was his and everyone's new reality and it's basically what happens to every Greenie! He went from a little boy to a full grown man in here and I'm pretty sure that was the hardest, but I can't speak for him, he'll know about that better than I do, for sure. What I know, is that Harry made his personal goal to take everyone here to their home and that's why he's so focused on finding the exit..."

Louis just sighed, silently, and he looked forward, letting his mind travel to a place far away from there. He couldn't help but imagine a younger Harry being put away from everyone he knew and everything that was familiar to him to after be trapped between four walls and no one to talk to. Louis could not, definitely, imagine being the first one to get there, and, he was sure he wouldn't handle it emotionally, especially, after the fear he felt for seeing people around him. He was still feeling alone inside, an intruder in that place. 

“Do you know why Harry didn't present to me everyone in the Glade and only some? He said something about them presenting themselves but I didn't understand it too well…” Louis eventually asked after long minutes of silence.

“Oh yeah, I forgot about that!” Dylan turned his body to Louis. “Some of the guys are planning a welcoming party for you! They do that to every Greenie to introduce them to all the things around here and to have a little fun before the hard stuff starts…”

“I see, should I prepare something for it or I just appear?”

“No, don’t worry, just appear. It’s a tradition around here. They’ll present to you some traditions around here like what we invented as a party drink and some night changes on the Maze that yesterday you didn’t hear because of your tiredness.”

Louis laughed, lightly, but let his mind ran to a different place once more. A dark place where he couldn’t form the happy thought he needed to light up his mood but the fact that his name was just a blank space was still occupying every thought.

“I can’t stop thinking…” Louis whispered and looked at Dylan, who already had his eyes on the blue-eyed boy. “Why am I the only one who doesn’t have a name tag? Or an age tag? It’s just so weird to me and scary, although what you told me about me being the only one knowing the real name when it comes being true and positive…” Louis started to ramble but stopped as soon as he saw Dylan open a little smile and Louis blushed a little.

“You’re worrying about it too much too soon. You just came in! Let’s give it until someone comes next month to see if they come with the tags or if they simply remember their name and age. If they do, then, believe me, we all are going to worry about that until we find an answer.” Dylan tried to ensure the smaller one and seemed to work since Louis nodded with a little smile on his lips.

“Thank you…” Louis gave Dylan a little smile.

Before Dylan could say anything else, Harry and Liam ran out of the Maze, keep running until they entered the forest. Louis followed them with his eyes until they disappeared from eye-sight and moved his blue pools to Dylan who had a little smile on his lips.

“I can see from here how curious you are to know what they are doing but that side of the forest is restricted to us… Just know that everything in there is to help everyone in here.” Dylan murmured and Louis nodded, sighing. “Soon, they're going to enter again to explore the second part of their way and as soon as they come back it's going to go dark, meaning the party starts so I need to get to work…” Dylan got up and Louis followed him, looking around a bit lost, not knowing what to do.

“Greenie!” Louis turned to the raspy voice, seeing Harry and Liam walking towards them. “Hope you didn't have to much trouble during the night and you were able to rest properly because today you'll start working.” Harry moved his eyes to Dylan. “Take him with you today, let's start easy!”

“Yes, boss!” Dylan blinked his eye at Harry, who just rolled his eyes with a smile. “C’mon Greenie, let the cool kids go to their playground!” Dylan united his arm with Louis’ who just laughed and started walking away with Dylan, arm in arm, leaving Harry behind with a smile on his lips.

“So, what do I need to do?” Louis asked when Dylan started to pick a tool that he did not know what was called from the ground.

“I think you should watch while I do my usual work around here and then we will see what you got from that and put you on the practicing after it!” Dylan waited for Louis to process it and nod to start his work. “We can talk and you can answer whatever you want while I work!” Dylan continued, looking over his shoulder to the other boy.

“Hello there, Greenie!” Louis looked at his side and saw Sebastian getting close to them. “You’re staying with us today?” Sebastian looked at Dylan, who nodded, and turned his attention to the blue-eyed. “At the beginning of the month, when a Greenie arrives, seeds arrive with the supplies as well so we plant them all to pick them in about two weeks.”

Louis nodded and took a quick look around, not finding one single person sitting down or lying around the place, everyone was doing their job. Once more, Louis felt surprised for their hard work and determination to make that place feel warm and familiar to everyone. Dylan cursed something, pulling Louis away from his thoughts so he focused on the work they were doing, again.

“Ready for tonight, Greenie?” Sebastian asked, not looking at Louis or without actually stopping his work.

“Uhm… I think so, I hope I get in the mood in between because right now I just want to go to bed and wake up when anyone finds a way out…” Louis admitted, looking at his knotted fingers and Sebastian looked at him.

“We all felt like that, don’t worry, you’ll snap out of it soon enough!” Sebastian said and Louis looked up at him. “Also, don’t feel bad about having those feelings or because you’re telling it two or three times, you arrived yesterday, it’s normal and we’re all here to help in all you need.”

“I know and Dylan reassured me of a lot of things, but my mind just keeps working in more and more problems that I never thought in the first place but then something happens and the thoughts come again…” Louis whispered and Sebastian nodded, seeming to understand.

“C’mon, come to work with us and let’s busy your mind so you can’t think about that!” Sebastian gestured for him to get closer and Louis did, with a little smile on his lips. “Okay, we need to open up some holes, not too deep, put the seeds, and close them again before we water them. It never rains here so we have to be more careful with the water and stuff.”

Louis nodded again, grabbing a shovel and got close to a little square marked on the ground. The blue-eyed looked at Dylan, who nodded at him, so Louis started to open a little hole to plant the seeds he had on his hand.

_Maybe he can do this after all!_


	4. ◈ 1.4

["He likes you"](http://picsart.com/i/272142474019201)

 

Sebastian turned out to be right; Louis focused so much on his work that, when he noticed, the sun went down completely and the sound of the doors closing filled the Glade. For a second, Louis got worried the boys didn’t arrive before the doors closed but he quickly forgot about that when he saw Liam eating something close to the improvised kitchen, making him realize he didn’t see them returning.

“So, what do you have to say about your first day?” Harry approached the three guys that were putting everything together in a corner of the warehouse, specially designed to keep everything they use in the garden.

“It was interesting…” Louis finished putting what was designed to him on its place before he got close to Harry. “Had fun actually, I really enjoyed working here today. Got my mind away from troubles I’m having…”

“Need to talk about it?” Harry crossed his arms, his brow furrowed in concern, or pity Louis couldn’t really tell for sure.

“No, it’s fine, thank you, I just will get over it eventually.” Louis shrugged.

“Alright, if you need to let it out, you know where to find me.” Harry nodded and started to walk away, his arms falling to the sides of his body.

Even tho the words that Harry pronounced were warm and concerning for Louis, his tone still was cold and distant, very different from the one Harry used the day before and Louis could tell it was the effects from the inside of the Maze, but those thoughts didn’t help a lot with him being left confused behind. The smaller one looked to the broad back walking away from where they were standing. Louis looked down, knowing it was how Harry acted sometimes as a consequence of the exhausting Maze, but it didn’t matter because, deep down, Louis knew how good Harry is.

“Something’s wrong, Greenie?” Sebastian touched Louis’ shoulder, startling him. “Sorry, I always forget Greenies get scared more easily.” 

“It’s fine and no, I was just thinking like always.” Louis shrugged and Sebastian nodded slowly.

“You’re going to end up hitting a wall if you keep worrying too much…” Sebastian murmured, leaving Louis on his own.

**ººº**

A few hours later, Louis was sitting on the same spot he was during the morning, looking to the closed doors in front of him, with a cup filled with something Louis couldn’t identify in his hand. When a few noises started to echo inside the Maze, Louis’ body curled a little like if he was protecting himself from something.

“It’s a bit strange, isn’t it?” Thomas’ voice filled Louis’ ears as the older one sat beside the blue-eyed. “Chills your bones the first time you hear it actually.” Thomas drank the liquid from his own cup as Louis turned his gaze to him.

“Do you guys actually take turns to come to talk to me?” Louis turned his eyes to the doors again as Thomas giggled softly. “Really, because you guys keep appearing next to me out of nowhere either asking if I’m okay or telling me something about this place…” Louis took a sip of the liquid inside his cup but quickly spit it inside again. “What the fuck is this?” He left the cup by his side, hearing Thomas’ laugh.

“It’s something the others invented when the water started to not arrive, I think it’s made of some type of vegetable, I just drink, you’ll get used to it too eventually.” Thomas shrugged, finishing the rest of his drink. “But you’re right tho, we do take turns to talk to the Greenies because, at this point, we all have different point of views of the place and we know how hard it is to be new here so we just want to make you comfortable.”

“I understand that and I’m grateful, I really am, it’s just too overwhelming yet, there’s so much happening right now that I don’t think everything settled…” Louis sighed, shaking his head like if he was getting rid of inside thoughts. “I, honestly, just want to get over all this stuff and help as much as I can.”

Again, the awful and loud noises echoed from the Maze, not being disguised by the happy festive that was happening behind the two boys but, at the same time, not being heard by the others. Louis looked behind wondering to himself how the others didn't seem to hear the clear loud noises. Although the chatter was noisy, it wouldn't, in any way, disguise the much louder noises from the place around them. 

“They're not ignoring it, they're just kinda used to the noise, actually I think, by now, everyone is just used to everything. It's our routine. We know it happens every night, no one ever saw it because there's no way to look to inside during night but that's not needed… Liam and Harry see it every time they enter that place during the day.” Louis’ gaze turned to Thomas to show the latter how he was giving the boy his full attention. “Those noises you hear it's actually the Maze changing places, the walls moving around, and as weird as it sounds, it makes our… Hm… Search, a little bit harder. And the excruciating noise is what we call a Griever. Again, no one ever saw it but we think it's some type of guard to make sure no one is inside that place because we know who gets stuck inside during night, doesn't make it out again, so…” Thomas shrugged.

“Everyone keeps explaining everything and somehow I feel like I already knew it…” Louis looked behind again, looking at everyone. “And I get it all but one thing… Harry.” Thomas chuckled softly, making Louis look at him.

“No one ever understands that guy when they first meet him, he seems a bit bipolar hm?!” Thomas looked around like if he was looking at the man but when he wasn't spotted he turned his body in Louis’ direction. “He's a bit like that yeah but we already get so crazy here with so many people around, can you imagine being on your own for a whole month with nothing at all?” Louis sighed and shook his head. “He pretty much only trusts Liam and Dylan. Being the leader, it's normal that he wants to protect everyone and he's very sweet to every single one of us but sometimes he lets his cold self-come out when he's stressed or things he usually can control get uncontrollable in his head… We all have those days.”

“Yeah, I can see why honestly…” Louis spotted Dylan looking at them from the other side. “But, drifting away from that! If deadly stares could kill, I would be laying flat on the floor with one of those that Dylan is sending me right now. Just when I thought we were friends!” Louis joked, shaking his head on false disbelief, and Thomas laughed, his cheeks red which made Louis smirk. “Is there anything going on between you two?” Louis took another quick glance at Dylan, noticing Thomas doing the same before looking down at his fingers.

“That was a quick change of subject!” Thomas tried to get away from the question.

“That's what I do, c’mon mister, start talking, I'm waiting!” Louis grinned as Thomas sighed.

“I don't even know, Greenie! How can we know something proper in here?” Thomas looked at Dylan again, seeing the other had gotten up to walk around. “When I hear his voice, I feel my belly go all weird and when I look at him, I feel my heart beating faster… I don't know what's that!” Thomas turned to Louis again. “Every day, I worry something is going to happen to him and he's not even a Runner anymore!” Thomas took a deep breath, stopping his tears from falling. “Dylan gave up want he wanted for me- for us! He gave up being a Runner when I broke my leg so he could help me and we could have more time together, and I'm scared that what I feel comes from that… I don't want that to be the case…” 

“Look, I can't remember what exactly love is, although I'm pretty sure what you feel is not because of what Dylan did, it might have had contributed to it but it's not the full reason! Dylan and I talked almost all day today and there was this moment where we could hear you laughing at something Peter said and it seemed like his world stopped. He just stopped everything he was doing and his eyes gained this different light… Is that clichê? I don't really know what that is but it was so good to watch. And what he did? Dylan is a great guy with a giant heart, but he wouldn't do that for me or Sebastian, for example! You're special to him and it's so good to be special to someone…” Louis saw Harry from the corner of his eye and gave Thomas a little smile. “You just need to embrace it…”

“Thank you, Greenie…” Thomas smiled.

“Yo, Thomas!” Harry got closer to them. “The guys were saying Zyot went to the forest to get wood about an hour ago and he's still not back yet. Do you mind go there to check in case he got hurt and stuff?” Harry crossed his arms.

“Oh yeah, sure!” Thomas got up, cleaning his face quickly.

“Thomas!” Dylan called behind them and Thomas looked at him, torn.

“It's fine!” Louis got up quickly. “Go see what Dylan needs, I'll go see what's wrong with Zyot, I don't mind and it will help me get to know the forest a bit more.” Louis shrugged and Thomas looked at Harry, who seemed puzzled as well. “If Zyot is hurt, I'll just help him get here…”

“Alright, problem solver, go, but don't take as long.” Harry turned to leave and Louis looked down, sighing.

“Give him time, he just needs to warm up to you…” Thomas squeezed Louis’ shoulder. “Enter the forest and walk straight ahead until you reach the wall from that side and then turn to your left until you find a big pile of wood. He can't be too far away from there! Thank you again Greenie!” Thomas started to walk towards Dylan.

Louis sighed and started his way to the South West area, passing beside Harry who was seated on a table close to the forest entry with some papers on his hands, but it made Louis wonder if he was there to make sure the smaller one would go to the forest like he said. Louis just sighed and kept walking ahead, even if he was feeling those green emeralds on his back. The walk to the big wall didn’t take long and Louis soon found himself in front of the tall gray object but he had to stop for a second to take it all in. Louis turned to his left like Thomas indicated, seeing the big pile the dirty-blonde mentioned to him so Louis started to walk in that direction.

Reaching his destination, Louis looked around, trying to see anything in the dark, which didn’t work as well as Louis expected it would. A branch breaking caught his attention, making him turn his body to his right a bit confused to where it was coming from.

“Zyot? Is that you?” Silence followed Louis’ question and his heart started to race faster. “Zyot?” Louis called again. “Hey man, everyone is asking for you, they’re getting kind of worried… If you’re hurt, just shout alright, I’ll help you get back to the Glade…” 

Louis looked around once again and stayed still looking at the darkness in front of him, trying to listen to any sounds, that came after a few seconds, but they weren’t very pleasant sounds and they seemed to come from all around Louis, leaving even more confused. Suddenly, a pain spread all over his head causing him to fall on the ground but before darkness took over his vision, Louis was still able to see Zyot’s eyes changing to black and blue veins appearing on his neck. 


	5. ◈ 1.5

["Hurt"](https://picsart.app.link/TtmYAO5LlQ)

 

_"I'm sorry, Louis..."_

Louis' eyes shot open just before Zyot threw himself on top of Louis' body, on the ground, and tried to round his throat to strangle him. Louis pushed Zyot back with his legs, quickly getting up, and Zyot got up as well, picking a piece of wood from the ground to throw it at Louis but the latter was able to dodge it before he started to run to the side he came back from.

"HELP!" Louis shouted and he looked back, seeing Zyot running after him as black blood started to slide from his mouth. "What the fuck..." Louis tripped on something, which made him pay attention to the way ahead of him. "HELP!" Louis tried again but suddenly it hit him that the others wouldn't hear him because of the noise they were making in the center of the Glade. "Shit!"

Zyot pushes him hard, making Louis' body jolt forward and hit a close tree that Louis couldn't locate because of the darkness around them. Louis felt an ache spread through all his left arm as he fell on the ground again, hitting both his back and his head hard on the dirty path underneath him, causing his vision to darken a bit once more. Louis stayed still for a couple of seconds which felt like hours to him, he started to believe it was just a matter of time before Zyot would knock him out for good.

"Zyot!" Harry's raspy voice suddenly filled Louis' ears. "Look here, Zyot!" Louis opened his eyes, his vision still a little blurred, and he spotted Harry trying to catch Zyot's attention with a piece a wood, a little far away from where Louis was laying. "What you think you're doing?!" Harry pulled Zyot against a tree, seeing how his veins and eyes were. "You were stung?! How the-" A noise came out from Zyot's mouth and Harry pressed his body more against the tree when he started to squirm.

"It's his fault!" Zyot growled and Louis got up, shaking. "He put us here! He's been watching us all this time! I'm going to kill him!" Zyot squirmed more, trying to bite Harry's hand and Harry stepped back quickly. "He needs to die!" Zyot looked at Louis again and Harry did the same.

"Are you okay?" Harry whispered and Louis nodded, although he was still shaking visibly.

"I'm going to kill you, you imposter!" Zyot screamed, running towards Louis who tried to run but tripped on a branch and fell on the ground. "Die!"

Zyot grabbed the broken branch that Louis tripped on and threw his arm back but before he could do something, Harry grabbed his wrist, hitting his head with a bigger piece of wood. Zyot's body fell next to Louis' but the latter quickly got up as soon as Harry put his knee on top of Zyot's chest so he couldn't get up. Louis, seeing that Zyot didn't black out after being hit on the head, wide-eyed and started to look around for something but he wasn't sure what it was.

"Go!" Harry screamed to Louis as Zyot tried to bite him again. "Fuck!"

"I'm not leaving you!" Louis tried to get closer but a loud growl coming from Zyot made him take a step back.

"I've dealt with this before and he wants to kill you, not me, so go!" Harry turned Zyot's body, pressing his head on the ground, holding his hands on his back. "Just go, Greenie, run!"

"Urg!" Louis started to run but he stopped, turning back. "Louis." The name escaped his mouth without Louis' thinking twice. "My name is Louis." He said again, not really realizing the magnitude of that phrase, and Harry's eyes fixed on him, before nodding to the smaller one.

"Go... Louis." Harry murmured and Louis just started running again, all the way to the Glade. "Please, don't tell anyone..." Louis still heard, but nothing echoed the forest, leaving him confused.

"Is everything okay?" Dylan appeared in front of Louis, suddenly, and the later bumped into the taller for not being able to stop in time. "Wow. Slow down, Greenie." Dylan grabbed Louis' arms to help him get steady but didn't hold on for long when the blue-eyed flinched a bit.

"It's Louis." Louis looked at Dylan who had his eyes wide open, but once more Louis didn't realize the magnitude of saying his name. "I'm sorry, I was just in a rush to go pee, nothing really important."

"You should pass by the medbay as well." Dylan rose his eyebrow and Louis started to freak out, scared Dylan had found or heard something.

"Why?" Louis asked, stressed out.

"Because I can see blood running down your neck from here. What happened? Where's Zyot? Did he do that to you?" Dylan kept asking and Louis passed his hand on the left side of his head before looking at his hand to see the red liquid covering his skin. "Did you hit your head? Is that how you remembered your name?" Dylan asked again and Louis stared at him, a bit paler than before.

"Uh, I didn't see this branch so I tripped on it and fell on the ground, hitting my head but I hit it so hard that I think it made me remember my name and age. Harry found me and told me to come back, saying he would figure out where Zyot is. I didn't have a chance to even look for him..." Louis cleaned his hand on his dark shorts and Dylan just stared at him for a few seconds, trying to get it all in.

"Alright, I'll get Thomas to help you with that wound and then we will celebrate the fact that we now know your name!" Dylan turned around to get back to the middle of the Glade, where the others were still concentrated, leaving an already confused Louis behind.

But what was really confusing Louis was still the fact that he heard Harry's voice but didn't, in fact, hear it through the trees of the forest. He couldn't just figure out how it happened in both the forest and in the morning when yet again he heard Harry's voice but was too far to actually hear it and he didn't really see Harry's mouth move as he heard the taller's voice. He could barely understand how he suddenly knew his own name, let alone how he could hear Harry's talking without actually hearing him, it was just one more subject he was confused about.

"What happened?!" Thomas approached Louis and put his hands on the smaller's shoulders, taking a look at his face and stopping when he spotted the blood on his neck. "Oh I thought Dylan was fucking with me but you really are hurt!"

"Yeah, I fell and hit my head, but it's fine it doesn't hurt, I just need you to put something to stop the loss of blood so no one will notice..." Louis whispered and Thomas nodded.

Grabbing the smaller's hand, Thomas started to pull him in the direction of the medbay while making sure no one was actually paying attention to the two of them but Dylan who kept a protective stare at them. Thomas motioned at him to follow them and Dylan nodded, leaving his drink on one of the tables that they moved to the use during the celebration. Thomas saw Dylan crossing his arms while leaning against the table but never taking his eyes off the two other boys before they crossed the door to the medbay facility. Thomas looked ahead, following Louis up the stairs but when Louis stopped in the middle he got a bit confused until Louis started to fall and Thomas has to grab him by his waist.

"Oh no, you might have a concussion!" Thomas tried to look to Louis' wound but didn't see much with the amount of blood and hair blocking his view.

"I'm fine, my head just feels a little heavy, that's all..." Louis murmured, taking his hand to his head.

"He passed out?" Dylan's voice sounded in the space and Thomas looked down, seeing him starting to climb up the stairs to meet them in the middle.

"No, I did not..." Louis murmured, getting ready to continue on his way but failed to see the stair ahead and almost fell again, being stopped by Dylan's arm.

"You might if you fall all the way down the stairs! Let's get you in the room, put your arms around my neck so I can pick you up." Dylan passed an arm around Louis' legs and, when he felt the weight of Louis' arm on his shoulders, he picked the smaller one up, starting to walk towards the med room.

Dylan laid Louis on the bed, seeing the pillow quickly being dyed with the red of Louis' blood. Dylan looked to Thomas, without knowing what to do, and Thomas just quickly made his way to one of the cabins in the corner of the room, putting gauze, saline, some healing ointment, and gloves in a moving table. Thomas put the gloves on and grabbed the little table to pull it close to the left side of the bed.

"Can you please turn him over? It definitely will be easier to see his head injury that way..." Thomas rambled, a little nervous for no apparent reason.

"Oh, of course, I should have thought about that..." Dylan pulled Louis' left shoulder up, putting his arm under the boy's body to turn him over as smoothly as he could. "He closed his eyes..." Dylan adjusted Louis' body, making sure he was more comfortable on the bed.

"Keep him awake!" Thomas quickly sat on the bed next to Louis, picking a gauze and putting saline on it.

"Louis, can you hear me?" Dylan sat on the other side, a pair of gloves close to him, noticing the dried blood on the brown hair and an open wound on the boy's head. "Oh god, that looks awful!"

"Not helping..." Louis groaned lowly, making himself be noticed by the other two while answering Dylan's question at the same time.

"I'm sorry, although I was expecting worse from the way you were bleeding..." Dylan explained and Thomas glared at him, making the other shrug apologetic. "It's true, it could be worse!"

"I said keep him awake, not scare him!" Thomas shot back and moved a bit of Louis' hair out of the way to take a proper look at the wound. "Do me a favor and grab here." Thomas pointed to his left hand and Dylan put a plastic glove to do what he was told. "It will probably hurt a bit Louis, but it will be quick I promise..."

"Okay..." Louis coughed, closing his eyes and grabbing the sheet tightly before he felt another hand grabbing his own, making him open his eyes to see it was Dylan's.

Thomas softly passed the gauze with the saline on the wound to clean it and Louis cried lowly, squeezing Dylan's hand a bit. Thomas pouted a little, making Dylan smile, and the blonde one threw the bloody gauze to the trash, grabbing another but putting the healing ointment in it. Taking a better look at the wound, Thomas realized he had to stitch Louis' head or he could catch something even worse.

"Louis, I'm going to have to stitch you or this could get really bad..." Thomas explained and Louis just nodded his head, grabbing Dylan's hand tighter.

"Hey, it's going to be fine Greenie, Thomas knows what he's doing, alright? Don't be scared..." Dylan murmured while Thomas got up to return to the cabin and get what he needed. "We don't want you to get worse, at all, we want you to go down again right after we finish here so you can tell the great news about you remembering your name and the guys can celebrate it with us! All together as a family, yeah?" Dylan continued as Thomas sat again on the bed and Louis laughed a bit, nodding again.

"Okay, here we go... Keep talking with him Dyl..." Thomas asked and started to do his work on the wound again, not noticing Dylan's cheeks gained a slight color.

"You are blushing!" Louis mouthed to Dylan, not letting any sound come out so Thomas wouldn't listen and Dylan blushed more, making Louis chuckle, doing his best not to move while feeling Thomas stitch him.

"Honestly, you're so strong Louis, I don't know how you're so still and quiet, aren't you feeling it?" Thomas wondered, still working on the stitches.

"I feel it, yeah, I can feel the needle and I feel the sting but it doesn't really hurt for that long... Is that bad?" Dylan squeezed his hand again when he felt the boy's body rigid.

"It could be something resulting from the wound but I'm closing it and it was superficial, didn't affect your brain from what I could gather so it can't be because of that, for sure. Guess you just have a lot of resistance and you're very very strong, we're proud of you!" Thomas murmured, finishing his work. "Okay, Louis, you're all set, I'm just going to clean your hair and neck, give you a pill, and we can go down to celebrate yeah? You have to be very careful with your movements during the first days..."

"Okay..." Louis whispered, smiling at Dylan, and the latter smiled back, squeezing the little one's hand, feeling more and more how trustworthy he was and starting to get that protective side coming up as it happened with Niall and, especially, Thomas. "How did you learn to do that?" Louis frowned, thinking about it.

"Honestly, I don't know how to answer that..." Thomas and Dylan looked at each other for a few seconds. "When I broke my leg and came here, to the medbay, I was beyond scared..." Thomas grabbed another piece of gauze with saline to clean Louis' neck, making the blue-eyed shiver. "Sorry! Anyway, there was no doctor until I broke my leg. I treated myself with the help of Dylan and Harry... From then on, I started to help the other guys and it was like I knew what to do, it was as weird as it sounds, believe me, but knowing I can help tops every doubt I ever have in here!"

"That's so inspiring to hear... " Louis sat up, carefully, not letting go of Dylan's hand, but looking at Thomas. "Because even though you were scared and confused, you put that aside just because that meant you could help others. You're very strong, especially after what you've come through... People might even say you're weak because 'you chose the easy way' but they're wrong, it's actually the opposite! You're really strong and your story inspires me a lot... And thank you for being here for me today, you're my hero..." Louis finished, sitting up to hug Thomas, who left a couple tears stream down his face.

"This suddenly became very emotional!" Dylan joked, feeling his heart hurt while seeing Thomas's face wet with tears, and the other two separated, laughing lightly. "Let's get down!"

"Let me just take the pill for Louis..." Thomas sniffed, cleaning his face before he got up and opened the medication cabin with the key he had around his shoulder. "Since you don't have much pain, I'm not going to give you a very strong one..." Thomas grabbed one pill, placing it on Louis' hand and walked to the other side of the room to get the boy a glass of water.

"Thank you..." Louis took the glass, putting the pill on his tongue and helping it go down with the water. "Okay, let's go, and not tell everyone what happened..."

Thomas and Dylan nodded and the trio left the room with Louis walking in front. Louis quickly made his way down the stairs, wanting to know if Harry had already come back or if Zyot would be there as well. A soon as the boy passed the door, he got a glance at Harry leaving the forest alone, cleaning his hands on his clothes while walking towards the Maze room. Louis sighed, starting to walk towards the rest of the boys, not paying too much attention to what was happening around him.

Meanwhile, still inside the med tower, Dylan grabbed Thomas' hand as the blonde one reached the bottom of the stairs. Thomas looked back at Dylan just to get his other hand being grabbed by the taller one.

"He's right..." Dylan murmured and Thomas looked down. "No, look at me..." Thomas looked up, through his lashes, seeing Dylan's sweet smile towards him. "I understand I never told you, and failed there, but I'm so proud of how strong you are... And what you did? Makes you even stronger in my eyes!" Dylan's thumb passed on the boy's hand.

Thomas smiled at the other, completely out of words, thankful for everything Dylan did for him during so many years and pulled the other's body closer to his own until their lips could finally meet while their fingers intertwined between them.


	6. ◈ 1.6

> ["Embrace it"](http://picsart.com/i/275421603011201)

 

The next day, Louis woke up early, way too early in his opinion, since there was barely any light coming from the sky. When Louis was trying to go back to sleep, he heard movement close to the beds before he actually heard the doors starting to open. Finding it weird, Louis sat up, having a glimpse of Harry and Liam entering the Maze, but what really caught his attention was the fact that Zyot was between them, being grabbed by both guys, with ropes around his wrists and torso.

At that point, all that was passing through Louis' head was questions he definitely had no answers to. Why would the doors open earlier and why would it echo less than the day before like if it didn't want to warn anyone else? Looking around, Louis confirmed no one woke up with the sound. Why would no one wake up with the doors since it's what always wakes them all? Confused but determined, the blue-eyed boy got up, as silent as he could, and quickly ran to the medbay where he grabbed two rolls of gauze and kept them on his pocket. Louis left the place and glanced in the direction of the beds, making sure everyone was fast asleep before he made his way to the front of the doors of the Maze.

Louis took a deep breath, feeling a weird wind striking his body while he was standing in front of those 20ft tall walls. Before he could start having seconds guesses or before anyone could wake up, Louis shook his head and ran inside, turning right as soon as he reached the end of the first path. He stopped for a second, looking around himself, letting a small smile play on his lips, and moved his eyes up, realizing how tall everything actually was.

When his eyes caught a glimpse at some of the ivy covering the walls, his thoughts quickly went to Thomas and how that was the thing that saved him, those tall green plants that are stuck to the wall. His eyes focused back to the path in front of him and Louis then decided to start to walk, having no idea the path he should take, just making turns to where his heart felt like going to.

Back to the Glade, the guys started to wake and get up to start their days. Thomas was the first to notice Louis wasn't on his bed but he didn't think much about the subject since the blue-eyed could be working already, ordered by Harry. The thought was put a bit to the side when Thomas felt a hand on his waist, that after turning away, he found out it was Dylan's, which made him smile.

"You okay? You're usually the first to go to the eating zone and we're the only ones here today..." Dylan looked around before leaving a chaste peck on Thomas' lips, which made the dirty-blonde blush but open a big smile.

"I was just wondering where Louis is but I remembered Harry probably just sent him to start working or to start testing him. Although, I didn't think about the fact he would have to eat breakfast with all of us..." Thomas looked to the tables, rambling l, and Dylan pulled him closer to press their lips together, one more time.

"He might have a smaller structure but he knows how to take care of himself, and, as you said, he probably already ate something or he will later, since I don't think someone told him he needs to eat before, yesterday he didn't anyway... But don't worry too soon! I'll keep a close look around and for him as well but please don't stress out that much alright?"

Thomas sighed and nodded, smiling up to Dylan before their lips met one last time. Both guys started to walk towards the eating zone so they could finally eat their breakfast with the other Gladers that weren't either inside the Maze or already working. After some Gladers started to pass out while doing their job, Harry made them all eat at least a piece of bread so they could have energy during the morning until the lunchtime would come, and it actually worked because Gladers saw how differently, and better, they started to do their jobs. From then, all of them would reunite around the tables to eat and explaining Greenies that it would be healthier for them.  

Thomas and Dylan went to the balcony of Tom's cabin, to grab what they wanted to eat, and they sat next to Peter and Niall, who smiled up at them.

"Hey, third boss!" Peter joked and Dylan laughed, starting to eat.

Because Dylan was the third Glader arriving in the Glade and because he helps Harry with the most decisions inside the place, the guys started to call him 'third boss' when they were having free time or Harry wasn't around. Same with Liam but the Runner spends more time inside the Maze than with the rest of the Gladers so they didn't have a chance to use it as much with him.

"How's work going?" Dylan asked, always wanting to know if everything around the place was alright and no one was scared of asking for anything major.

"Great actually, we always forget how great it was doing it when supplies start to go low..." Peter tried to explain and Nialls looked down as the other Gladers started to leave what they used to eat in a pile next to the blonde one.

"I'll help you Ni, don't make that face, you're too cute!" Peter laughed and Niall smiled at him, thankful.

"Are they giving you a hard time, Niall?" Dylan looked at the shy boy.

"No, not more than the usual anyway, but it's fine. I'm the one who works the least around here and who works for all of them..." Niall smiled a bit, reassuring Dylan, who just nodded.

"If they're too rough with you, don't be scared to tell me or Liam or Harry." Dylan finished as Niall nodded and smiled, as a way of thanking the other. "Did anyone see Louis today, yet?" Dylan felt Thomas' eyes on him which made him look at his boy, to find a small smile towards himself.

"Not yet! I heard him get up since he sleeps right next to me, but I fell asleep again and didn't see where he went... Probably just came to eat something and went to work or took some time on his own, everyone needs that once in a while..." Peter finished eating. "I'll take a walk around and see if he needs anything or if he's just really taking a time out..."

Dylan was going to thank him when his eyes fixed on Harry and Liam getting out of the Maze. If Harry and Liam were getting out during so early on the breakfast time, it meant that they entered to take care of a Crack, but only a few people knew about that since it would freak the guys and make them start to doubt everyone around. Dylan and Thomas looked at each other, both knowing the reason behind their coming back and the fear that it was Louis came rushing through them as well.

"Help Niall today..." Dylan started, looking at Peter, who also took his eyes away from the guys coming out of the Maze to look at the guy in front of him. "Today is a slow day."

The days Harry and Liam take someone infected to the inside of the Maze, the doors close earlier than the usual days, but it's very irregular so the guys just leave as soon as they leave the Crank there, so the inside can take care of the former Glader, but because the others didn't know about that, they would always call it a 'slow day'. Hearing that, everyone immediately knew that the trio would be more present in the Glade and would help around more as well, which all the Gladers loved.

"Alright, let me know if something happened with him..." Peter got up with Niall as Harry and Liam started to approach their table.

Peter grabbed Dylan's and Thomas' plates, while Niall grabbed a bunch of others too, taking them to Tom's cabin, entering it from the back so they could start washing it. Harry and Liam sat in front of Dylan and Thomas, but Harry looked around before fixing his gaze on the other two in front of him.

"We need to have a reunion..." Harry murmured so no one around could hear them. "Us four and Zayn because he has to go to the Wall... We still need to take Louis there too." Harry looked around once more as Dylan's and Thomas' eyes met again, both relieved that Louis was not the one taken to the Maze but also a bit of worry, realizing Harry didn't send him to work since it looked like the boy was searching around for the blue-eyed. "Liam, go call Zayn and meet us in the Council room, please."

The boys got up, going to different directions; Harry, Dylan, and Thomas to the medbay tower where the room is located while Liam went to the center to find Zayn who was getting the fixing of the stairs from the viewing tower in order to begin.

The Council room is situated on the medbay tower, considering that Thomas workroom is upstairs and the council room is right in front of the entrance door. It's the room where Louis met Dylan and Liam and it's also a restricted room. In the Council room it's Harry, Dylan, Thomas, Liam and Zayn decide things in group, as the heads of the sections of the Glade, like the number of days someone who broke the rules will have to spend in the Slammer, or where they talk about the Gladers who got stung and were sent to the Maze.

"Alright!" Harry got up from his chair on the head of the table when Liam and Zayn got in. "Yesterday, Zyot was stung, probably during the night."

"During the night?!" Zayn voiced everyone's concern, all with wide eyes towards Harry.

"I'm not sure but he wouldn't keep it cool for the whole day and then just attack at night... He attacked Louis last night and-" Harry continued, but immediately stopped when he saw Dylan and Thomas quickly turning to each other. "What?!"

"No one saw Louis today, but we all thought he was working until we saw you looking for him... Since he was attacked, makes more sense that he just went for a walk around..." Dylan explained and Harry scratched the back of his head.

"I'll go around to see where he is when we finish here..." Harry hid his worry. "As I was saying, he attacked Louis, helping him remember his name by the way, and this morning we took Zyot inside, no one woke up, the walls were silent and we left him in section 4 that was opened today. The doors must be closing soon enough so he's going to be taken care of, and he's tied so he can't run away. We need to start being more careful, if Zyot was really stung during the night when the doors are closed, means it can happen with anyone!" Harry sat again, looking at them all. "Zyot said he wanted to kill Louis and said something about being his fault, I don't know, I just know that I heard Louis scream and when I got there, Louis was on the ground and Zyot was trying to attack him with the wood trunks!"

"Wait a second!" Thomas leaned a bit, taking his back off the chair. "Yesterday, he told Dylan and I that he tripped on a branch and fell..."

"Really?! I was going to warn him not to tell everyone what happened but I ended up forgetting, I didn't know who he was going to find and if it was one of the others they would've freaked out... Doesn't matter! Alright, I'm going to see where he is and ask if what Zyot said makes any sense to him..." Harry got up.

"Tell him to go find me, I gave him some stitches and I need to check on them and make sure nothing is getting any infection..." Thomas got up as well, being followed by the others.

"Will do! Zayn and Liam, please go to the wall and cross Zyot's name. I'll take Louis to write his when I find him."

"You got it boss!" Liam tapped Harry's shoulder, who rolled his eyes but smiles at the others.

"You can go!" Harry laughed with the guys and all of them left, once again, parting ways, under the eyes of all the other Gladers.

Harry made his way to Tom's cabin with Thomas by his side since the dirty-blond one was going to help them with lunch and cleaning the tables, and they caught a glimpse of Peter and Niall washing and drying the stuff the guys used during breakfast to use during lunch again. Harry leaned his body on the wood counter as Thomas entered the cabin until the other two noticed their leader watching them.

"Oh, hi Harry! Fancy something to eat?" Peter kept drying some plates, not taking his eyes away from Harry.

"No kiddo, I ate before going to the Maze, just wanted to really ask you something..." Harry started fiddling with a cloth close to him as Peter started to get closer to him, Thomas following behind, and both leaned over the counter too.

"You're going to ask about Louis, aren't you?" Thomas smiled softly when Harry's green eyes appeared under his lashes. "I didn't see him after we all went to bed last night, I hear him get up in the morning but I was so tired that I just fell asleep again before he could leave the Homestead..."

"After I stitched him yesterday, he seemed alright, he only took the medication I gave him when I finished so maybe he woke up with pain and went to walk around, I don't know..." Thomas squeezes Harry's shoulder, who passed his hand on his own curls and Peter murmured an apology, getting back to his work.

Thomas grabbed the cloth from Harry's hand and left the cabin from the back as Harry sat on one of the tables. Thomas started to pass the cloth on the tables, watching closely as Harry seemed worried and seemed to be thinking in every possible thing that might have happened to Louis.

"Where the hell could he be, that no one saw him for the whole morning?! This place is not that bi-" Harry quickly looked at the opened walls, as the idea of Louis inside rushed into his mind.

"No! Harry, he wouldn't! Look, let's go to the medbay and see if it's something missing!" Thomas got closer to Harry as the taller one got up, his eyes still fixed away from there, and he grabbed the latter's arm to push him towards the tower, but having difficulty because of his leg.

"I'll go, don't force your leg like that..." Harry pushed the worrying thought away, really wishing Louis didn't put himself in that kind of risk after Harry telling him he couldn't go to inside the Maze all by himself.

"It's fine..." Thomas and Harry entered the tower and they got up the stairs to go into the medbay. "Oh, the cabinet is open..." Thomas approached the cabinet, looking inside. "Nothing apparent is missing... It's weird..."

"Hey, I've been wondering and I know this is random and probably not the best moment to talk about it, it's basically to take the Maze thought away from my mind... Is really something going on between Dylan and you?" Harry sat on the bed and Thomas looked at him before sitting as well, his eyes fixed on his fingers.

"You know, I'm... Uhm... Before the accident, I never felt that Dylan could like me as I already liked him... I was just so tired that day, so depressed even, that I just entered the Maze with my mind very far away, and when I saw I was far enough from you guys, I climbed the wall with the help of the ivy to be able to see better from up there, but when I was getting to the top, my foot got tangled in one of the ivies and I lost my balance...I fell back, hit my head in the wall and just started to see all dark... I just knew that was it, you know? I was hanging there, I couldn't get a grab on anything and my vision was all blurry..." Thomas looked at his own leg, his breath coming out a bit faster than before. "It came to a point where my foot started to slowly slip and I couldn't scream for help because of the hit on my head at the stone, or concrete I don't even know! Do you know what it is to feel like you only have a few more seconds to live?" Thomas' eyes met Harry's one and the taller shook his head.

"Well, in the first week I felt like I could just drop dead but I could never compare to what you passed through..." Harry grabbed Thomas' hand on top of his injured leg.

"You can... Hm... Dylan appeared out of nowhere and he cut the ivy, catching me in time... When I got my foot on the ground, I immediately knew something was wrong, I couldn't put that leg on the ground, it was just hurting so bad... We returned to the Glade and went straight to the medbay. When I took my pants, I saw it was squished and I just lost it... I started to freak out and I just started having a big panic attack, my adrenaline was waving out and the pain was coming up..." Thomas cleaned a tear that slipped. "That was the first time Dylan kissed me..." Thomas smiled softly and Harry chuckled at the dirty-blond blush.

"What did you feel?"

"I felt different, I felt loved, but the thing was that I felt calm like... if he was my home..." Thomas murmured and Harry couldn't help but smile at him.

"Did you?" Both Harry and Thomas turned their heads towards the door where they saw Dylan leaning against the frame of the door.

"I'll let you two talk..." Harry squeezes Thomas' hand and got up. "Why didn't you ever mentioned that to me?"

"I think I was just scared of your reaction..."

"I'm guessing you guys still kiss, but I never saw it prejudicating your jobs so it's fine by me! And you support each other, that's important to me as well." Harry shrugged and smiled at his two friends.

Dylan smiled big and as Harry passed by his side, the green-eyed squeezed the other's shoulder, glad that one of his best friends was so happy next to a great person such as Thomas.

"Embrace it..." Harry whispered and Dylan smiled, thankful.

Harry left the room, closing the door as soon as Dylan got in and quickly made his way down the stairs, leaving the tower. He turned left to enter the forest and started seeing if Louis was hidden somewhere in there, but after walking for a long period of time, Harry realized that not even Liam and Zayn were there anymore. Going back to the center of the Glade, he noticed Dylan and Thomas leaving the tower with big smiles on their lips, which made him smile too but it didn't help much with the worry wavering in his chest.

Everyone stopped when a high-pitched scream echoed through the whole Glade. Harry's smile quickly fell from his lips and his eyes connected with Dylan's and Thomas'. As everyone started to gather close to the opened doors, the so usual sound of them moving to start closing echoed as well, and Dylan noticed the change in Harry's eyes.

"Harry, don't you dare!" Dylan screamed at the green-eyed and took a step closer but Harry just took off towards the doors. "Harry!" Thomas grabbed Dylan's arm before he could take off after Harry, and both guys watched their leader run to a closing wall.

"Who the fuck let the Greenie enter the Maze?!" Harry screamed, pushing his way through the Gladers who gathered in front of the doors.

"Harry, stop!" Liam tried to grab his arm but Harry just nudged him.

The green-eyed passed the beginning of the walls, running until the middle of it when he started to notice the space getting tighter and the voices of the other Gladers started to fade behind him. At that point, Harry began to realize he probably should've had thought twice but saving Louis was more important and, at the same time, Harry just knew he would do that again and again. Passing his upper body and legs to the Maze side, almost getting his hand squished between the two walls that were closing fast, and truly closed seconds after he managed to pass his hand through.

With a heavy fast-rated heart, Harry looked up to the big walls in front of him, before slowly starting to turn around to face the beginning of the cold path to enter the Maze.

"Holy fuck..."


	7. ◈ 1.7

["Calm Down..."](https://cdn140.picsart.com/279372187009201.jpg?r1024x1024)

 

Harry took a deep breath as everything started to pass through his head and knowing that the cause of him not hearing anymore inside the Glade was because of its height. 120ft of stone would definitely do the trick if the sound wasn't loud enough. Harry nodded to himself, letting out the air that he didn't notice he was holding.   
  
"He can't be far... He couldn't leave section 4 even if he wanted to so I'll just start there I guess..."   
  
Harry passed his hand on his hair before he started to run to the furthest section, almost on the other side of the Maze. Entering the open section, Harry slowed his pace, changing his running pace to a fast walk pace, keeping an attentive look to every corner he passed so he couldn't miss Louis hiding somewhere and to make sure he wasn't going to face a Griever since he wasn't sure what they could do.   
  
"Help..." A whisper was heard by Harry, but no one was around him and it was too low to the sound be able to get to him through the walls of the Maze. "I'm going to die, I don't want to but there's no turning back, you're a goner buddy!" Harry would laugh if he wasn't so confused to where was Louis' voice coming from. "At least you found this hidden corner, they won't find you here, just don't get scared of the noises, you fucked up but they won't find yo-"   
  
Before Louis could finish, a loud noise echoed through the Maze that made Harry want to either run away or crawl and cover his ears, but he knew he had to get to Louis and find a safe place where they could hide until the sun would come up and they could leave the Maze safe. Harry just wanted to get Louis to the Glade so they could tell all about it to the others and they would just laugh it off.   
  
"Ok, where are you, Louis?" Harry murmured. "Hidden corner in section 4? There's only two but I'm pretty sure one is closed already so please let him be on the open one and not trapped on another section!"   
  
Harry started to run again, passing through the 120ft walls as fast as he could but when the floor started to shake under his feet he had to stop for a second. When he heard the Griever's sound once again, but louder and closer, so Harry looked around and hid behind some ivies on the wall in front of him. keeping himself quiet while holding his breath. When he thought nothing was going to happen, a metal leg appeared in front of his eyes and Harry had to stop himself from screaming as he looked up the leg to the full body.   
  
Harry soon realized what just passed by him was really one of the Grievers that they always hear in the Glade and that they are the ones that take care of the Cranks inside the Maze. When he was sure the Griever was far enough, or at least he hoped it was, Harry left his hiding place and ran through the 'corridor' he was in, turning the corner when he got to the end of it. He immediately spotted Louis with his legs bent to his chest, his head on his knees, and his hands on his ears. Harry quickly ran to the smaller one, grabbing his arms and pulled him up, being presented to the big blue-ocean pools that were Louis' eyes.   
  
"It's me, calm down!" Harry whispered, covering Louis' mouth so he couldn't scream as Harry saw how scared the smaller one was. "Hey, it's fine, you're alright, I'm sorry I scared you. You did see the Griever as well, didn't you?" Louis nodded fast, tears streaming down his face. "It's fine, they won't find us but we need to hide yeah?" Louis nodded, letting out a sob. "Alright, no screaming or any loud noise at all so they won't hear us..." Harry uncovered Louis' mouth as the boy nodded again.   
  
"Why are you here?" Louis murmured, feeling his hands shake a lot, and Harry pulled him more to the hidden spot, keeping a careful look around. "You shouldn't be here Harry, you should've had let me here alone! Now it's my fault that you are not going to get back, that's not what I wanted, I was just curious and because of my stupidity all of the guys will lose their leader an-"   
  
"Louis, look..." Harry stopped Louis, turning to him again.   
  
"No! No one ever got out of the Maze after a night! Now you won't get out because I screamed like a child!" Louis' tone started to get a bit higher as he started to get more and more in panic, and Harry covered his mouth again when they heard the awful sound of the Griever.   
  
"Stop believing what everyone says to you! Some things get to you in the wrong way! The only ones who entered this Maze at night were the ones turning into Cranks so of course they don't know their way back! I know it so let's find a place to hide and tomorrow we are coming back, understood?" Harry spoke a little too harshly and Louis just shut up, nodding with more tears in his eyes. "I'm sorry..." Harry sighed, feeling guilty, and put his hand down. "Just... Don't think about it, don't make loud sounds and let's survive this to laugh it off at this tomorrow yeah?"   
  
"Yeah, I'm sorry..." Louis murmured.   
  
Harry looked at Louis' hands, seeing them shake as the blue-eyed cleaned some tears away from his face so the taller one grabbed his hand, intertwining their fingers slowly. They both looked down at their hands, feeling their hearts pumping fast, and when their eyes met again. Harry opened a soft smile.

“Let’s get going… I’ll let go whenever you want to, just tell me, don’t be scared of that…” Harry whispered. Louis just nodded, thinking to himself that he didn’t want to let go, but when Harry turned to him and rose his eyebrow, Louis tried to disguise the heat on his cheeks. “I won’t then…” Harry murmured with a smile and, as confused as he was, Louis returned the smile.

Harry kept pulling Louis around the Maze while the smaller one kept trying to understand if he was thinking out loud for Harry to hear of the green-eyed was experiencing the exact same he did on his first day in the Glade. Opening his mouth to ask Harry, Louis thought how weird it was that they could hear each other inside their heads without them having to talk out loud with each other, so he didn’t get to actually say anything before Harry stopped, suddenly, making Louis bump on his back and loose the hold on his hand.

“Ouch!” Louis passed his hand on his forehead. “Harry, if we keep stopping like this, we’ll never get out of here to a safe place!” Louis murmured and then looked back at the other one, noticing confused green eyes staring at him. “What?” 

“You hear me in your head?” Harry murmured, starstruck. “You didn’t say that out loud, did you?” Harry continued. “What is this?! Why do I hear your thoughts inside my head?!” The taller one started to sound a little frantic.

Before Louis could say anything to Harry, the sound they tried to avoid appeared behind Louis and after seeing the terror appear in Harry’s eyes, Louis slowly turned around being able to see the gigantic Griever standing at the beginning of the path that they made just standing and watching them and their moves. Not knowing what to do and scared of even blinking, Louis reached, blindly, for Harry’s hand behind him and when they connected, Harry only had time to grab it tightly and pull the smaller one to start running.

“Harry, those walls are closing!” Louis screamed as Harry made a couple of turns without stopping running while they could still hear the metallic steps running fast after them. 

“Don’t be scared and don’t stop running as fast as you can!” Harry looked behind, seeing the Griever approaching faster than he thought. “Holy crap! That shit is fast!” He took a quick peek at Louis before turning forward to keep running and noticed the tear coming out of his ocean eyes. “No, Lou, please don’t cry, we can’t have you freaking out now, talk to me. Don’t close yourself down, even though I can hear your thoughts doesn’t mean we can’t talk normally!” Harry pulled Louis to a corner and the smaller boy hit his shoulder on the wall, lightly.

“Hm…” Louis moaned in pain but didn’t stop and, with his free hand, cleaned his wet face. “Harry, that thing is going to get to us!” Louis looked behind and so did Harry as both watched the Griever turned the corner they just did and started climbing the wall, still making the awful noise that made them shrink their bodies a bit like if they were protecting it from the loud sound.

“Crap…” Harry stopped when they arrived at the end of their path and were faced with two different open ways to follow. “I never saw this, I don’t know which-” Harry looked confused at both ways before looking behind to see the Griever quickly approaching them. “Fuck!” 

“Harry!” Louis kept his eyes behind them, on the Griever.

“Fuck, Louis, I-” Harry stopped talking suddenly as everything started to shake around them and the one of the ways started to close in front of their eyes before Harry turned his body to Louis. “I’m going to ask you something very crazy right now!” Louis wide-eyed him, his body still facing the creature approaching them. “Trust me on this, we’re safer behind that door than here right now, so run, and run fast Lou, alright?”

Louis nodded and took a deep breath before he turned his back to the Griever, grabbing Harry’s hand tightly. Watching their path close rapidly, Harry kept a close eye on both the Griever and the moving walls, feeling Louis get more and more anxious. When he saw how close the Griever was, how scared Louis was getting, and how the doors were almost closed, Harry made sure to have a strong grip on Louis’ hand before he took off, running fast towards the path he chose, pulling the smaller one with him. As soon as they passed through, they looked back and saw half of the Griever on their side and half on the other when the walls closed completely, cutting it and making a sound of metal folding that made them take a step back a bit.

“Oh my-” Louis covered his eyes and turned around.

“It’s fine, we’re fine!” Harry hugged Louis, pulling his body closer, and Louis uncovered his face, clinging onto Harry. “Now, we-” Harry stopped as the Griever made a sudden movement and he quickly turned around with Louis still in his arms, protecting the smallest body who was still grabbing his body, hiding his face on Louis’ soft hair. 

When Harry made sure the Griever wasn’t moving anymore, he looked up slowly, being faced with an opened space that was unknown to him, which made him take a step back, letting his arms fall on the side of his body, catching Louis’ attention to him. Noticing Harry’s blank glaze, Louis turned and faced the new space in front of them before he looked at Harry again.

“What?!” Louis snapped Harry away from his thoughts and their gaze met. “You’re as pale as a ghost, what’s wrong?!”

“We were never in this section, it was never open…” 


	8. ◈ 1.8

["I promise"](http://picsart.com/i/284299067023201)

 

“What do you mean? I thought you ran the entire Maze with Liam…” Louis looked to the space again, scanning the place with his eyes. “What’s so different about this section?” Louis shifted his gaze to the taller one.

“It’s open while the other ones are just halls and turns… This one is like the Glade but outside the M-” Harry stopped himself. “What if this is how we get out? What if that’s why we never found it? This is just like the Glade but for Grievers, outside the Maze. We never saw this open although so it must mean something… We have to be extra careful…” Harry looked at Louis, meeting blue eyes that were showing fear. “Let’s take a walk… Do you want me to take your backpack?” Harry noticed the small object on the other’s back but Louis just shook his head.

Harry went to walk but Louis grabbed his hand, intertwining their fingers. Harry turns his gaze to the smaller one, finding less fear and more confidence in his eyes just for feeling the heat of his hand.

“I feel safer this way, if you don’t mind…” Harry pressed his thumb on Louis’ pulse. “I can feel your heartbeat this way…” Harry felt Louis’ heartbeat getting faster and he smirked seeing Louis’ cheeks gain a red-ish tone. “Shall we explore this while we’re here?” Harry looked around, not recognizing anything around.

“Yeah, maybe we’ll find a good place to hide…” Louis murmured analyzing the space as well.

“I honestly have no clue what we might find, are you sure you don’t want to wait here while I scan around to see if there’s any danger?” Harry pulled Louis’ attention to him again.

“If there’s no problem because I’m not a Runner, I would prefer to continue with you… I’m scared that, if more Grievers appear here, I won’t know what to do and you know how to at least distract them…”

“It’s fine that you’re not a Runner, and if you really want to come, I’d really like the help…” Harry smiled and Louis returned it.

Louis squeezed Harry’s hand before they both took a couple of careful steps forward like if they were scared something was going to happen if they stepped in the wrong tile. They walked, silently, their hands always connected, in silence, also scared something would jump at them if they made any sound that could tell they were invading that still unknown place.

They started walking with more confidence as they took some more steps that didn’t trigger anything around them. Hand in hand, both boys were looking curiously around, looking for some clue that would lead them to a way out, or just simply taking in the unknown and strange space around them. As they approached some kind of big metal blades, the loud sound of a Griever echoed through the walls, sounding closer to them than they would’ve liked and sounding louder for being a open space, making Louis get closer to Harry and Harry closer to Louis, like it was the first instinct to protect each other.

When the Griever appeared at their eyesight, they were convinced it didn’t see them there but as soon as they started to slowly back their steps, the Griever’s head turned to them, and the horrifying grunt echoed again.

“Run!” Harry whispered to Louis, grabbing his hand with a stronger grip, and agilely grabbed the stick from Louis’ backpack. “Now!” Harry passed the smaller body, not leaving his hand, and started to run fast, knowing the other was right behind him.

“Harry!” Louis’ scream made the other look behind to find the Griever even closer than the other one was and there was no closing wall that was able to help them.

As panic started to settle, Harry took a quick look around, suddenly feeling his hand being tugged back and Louis scream filling his ears, making him look back to see what was happening, finding the Griever pulling Louis’ back as the blue eyes connected to the green ones. Like everything started to happen in slow motion, Harry saw Louis being pinned to the floor by the large Griever, his backpack not making the fall to be as bad as it would without it, and Louis’ everlasting scream continued as the small one tried to fight the metal claws above his head.

Before he could put much thought into it, Harry squeezed the stick on his hand and climbed the Griever by the metal leg, all the way up to the top, seeing Louis’ face full of panic with the sudden attack of the Griever. Harry went a bit more forward reaching the small thin neck, knowing he had to be fast, so he brought his arm back and quickly sticked the object through the skin, and suprinsely flesh, of the Griever, hearing Louis’ scream seconds after, so he thought he got him with the stick. As the Griever started to move away, producing some liquid and making horrible sounds, Harry jumped off its back, almost dislocating his foot, and turned to a Louis that was just laid on the floor, crying.

“Alright, Louis, we have to go before any more of those things come after us!” Harry tried to lift up the smaller one but Louis just screamed, making him stop. “Did you hit your back? Was it me? Is it your he-”

“Harry!” Louis stopped Harry, grabbing his arm and it was then that the green eyed saw the blood replacing Louis’ natural skin colour on his hands. “It wasn’t you…” Louis murmured and it was all the information Harry needed to realise Louis was stung. “Just go! I’ll be one of them anyway, if they’re going to kill me, doesn’t matter if it’s now or when you’ll have to leave me here because…” Louis started to cough blood, in the middle of his ramble, and tears began to stream down his face as well.

Harry, who seemed to have been frozen since he got the conclusion it was the sting, passed his hand on his face before looking around. When Louis was about to tell him to just go, Harry grabbed his arm to pull his body up.

“I’m not leaving you here, Louis, no way, we’ll take care of that later!”

“This is pointless, just leave me!” Louis grunted in pain when Harry passed his arm over his large shoulders. “Fuck, it hurts…” Tears pricked on Louis’ eyes once again and Harry grabbed his waist with one arm, the smaller hand with his free one, and started to help the other one to walk.

“I’m sorry, but you know I can’t leave you here to die, not like this…”

“I’m going to die anyway, Harry, so there’s no point on bringing me with you…” Louis says and starts to cough into his hand, seeing the black blood in the tip of his fingers, mixed with some red blood as well. “Crap…” Louis murmured.

“Hang on, I’m not leaving you, I’m staying with you all the way until the end…” Harry pulled the smaller one closer to his body, practically carrying the other’s body around.

Harry felt Louis’ gaze on him but he concentrated on getting them to a safe place where they could rest for the night or, at least, until Louis started to get worse than he already was but he also couldn’t look into the blue eyes and face the pain and the fear reflected in them so he focused his ears and eyes on everything around them in case another Griever would appear to come after them.

“Wait, what the-” Harry stopped, looking forward and Louis looked up at him, confused, before he looked forward, seeing it as well.

“Is that a Cliff?” Louis tried to take a step forward after taking his arm off the other’s shoulders, and he almost fell, making Harry tighten his grip around the smaller waist.

“Careful there…” Harry supported Louis’ body better against him and started walking slowly, one more time. “Why is there a Cliff in here? I’m pretty sure we never saw this before…I would remember it for sure…”

“Look…” Louis weakly pointed at a bloody t-shirt hanging from a branch in the middle of the wall. “Why is there a t-shirt in this place and with blood on it?”

“It’s Zack’s, the guy who attacked you… I put him inside the Maze through a secret door, last night, Grievers probably got to him before he could run away…” Harry turned to Louis. “Must be where he came when he was turning…” Harry guessed, getting closer to the edge just to see if there was something else at the bottom of it, not seeing anything or anyone. “I see a little hiding spot behind the ivy where we can hide from the Grievers for the night but we probably will have to jump to the other wall and climb down the ivy…” Harry turned to Louis again, who looked like he was about to fall down to the ground.

“I don’t think I can do that Harry, I can barely walk or even stand…” Louis murmured, feeling his full body getting heavier and starting to get sore as well, for some reason.

“I’ll go, I think I can pull you from down there if I stand on the rocks and you sit on the edge…” Harry looked down, evaluating what he just proposed, before he turned to Louis to receive a nod from him. “It’s probably going to hurt a whole lot but we have to go hide while we can see everything and it’s still day…”

“I don’t mind, let’s do it… Just be careful with the jump, it’s a long long fall…” Louis murmured, worried which made Harry smile softly.

“Do you need help sitting down at the edge?” Harry wondered and Louis just shook his head.

Harry turned around, taking a couple of steps back and he heard Louis’ heavy breathing behind him. Louis wanted to just look away in case that went very wrong but he couldn’t bring himself to take his eyes away from the taller structure in front of him.

Harry took a deep breath, preparing not only the jump but his mind to actually do it, pretty aware that if he fell, that would be it for him but he preferred to clean his mind and just do it. Harry quickly looked at Louis for a second, seeing the worry and pain in the blue eyes, the same he was trying to avoid, turned towards him, and he smiled to the smaller one, receiving one back before he turned, starting to run. _For him._ As soon as Harry reached the edge and jumped, he felt his body being pulled down but with a quick catch onto the ivy, he held on, stopping his free fall but starting the fast rate of his heart.

Although Louis could not say the same about his heart, that stopped beating when he saw how Harry’s body seemed to be sucked into that type of big hole. A million things passed by Louis’ head in the few seconds of not knowing what just happened in front of his eyes, and all of those things screamed the same thing, _is Harry okay, is Harry alive, how did Harry missed it, Harry, Harry, Harry._ What seemed like hours but was just a few seconds after, Louis made his best to get closer to the edge and the relieve came when his eyes spotted the taller one, hanging from the wall while his hand was around one of the ivy.

“Harry?!” Louis screamed not really sure if the boy was passed out and tangled by his hand or really awake and holding on. If the boy was passed out, Louis was not really sure what he would do, considering the big and painful sting on his chest. Once again, relieve crossed through his whole body as he saw Harry’s head turn to him.

“I’m fine!” Harry shouted back and readjusted his other hand on the ivy, starting to make his way down as Louis sat down on the edge, his hand never stopping the pressure on his wound. “C’mon, it’s starting to get dark out here, we won’t see the hiding spot if it’s night…” Harry crossed the path until he reached the side Louis was on, climbing two big rocks that were placed on top of one another. Harry grabbed Louis’ ankles and softly pulled him forward until his bum was really in the edge. “I need you to be strong right now, not only mentally but physically okay?” Harry murmured and Louis gulped but nodded. “Put your arms next to your body and press down with your hands so you can lower your body towards mine…” Louis stopped putting pressure on the wound, feeling the pain take over his body more intensely but he disguised it and did what Harry told him. “Great, you can let go now!” Harry grabbed his waist and Louis slowly let go, quickly grabbing onto the taller frame with both his legs and arms. “You’re safe!”

Harry passed his hand on Louis’ back, not minding at all to have him on his arms like that, and kept whispering soft things on his ear, making sure Louis knew he was safe but he quickly realised Louis didn’t feel that much safe and that his grip wasn’t only from Harry pulling him down but it had also something to do with the warm stain of blood being formed on Harry’s white shirt.

“Haz…” Louis whispered as his eyes started to drop a bit, not realising the nickname he gave to the other one, and even though Harry did notice, he focused his head on the fact that he had to stop that bleeding, again.

“Hang on, Louis!” Harry climbed down the rocks in a speed that even he was surprised with, considering the extra weight he was carrying on his arms, and as soon as he moved the ivy to see the little whole made on the wall behind, the horrific sound returned, echoing close to them. “Crap, crap, crap!” Harry sat Louis inside, on the floor, and crouched down in front of him, covering their bodies with the thick green plant.

Harry pressed one of his hands on top of Louis’ wound, above his t-shirt, and covered the smaller one’s mouth to prevent the scream that was about to erupt through his lips and echo around the walls. Looking into Louis’ eyes, Harry saw the tears starting to fall down as pain crossed by them. Harry couldn’t do much but silently apologise with his green eyes, feeling Louis’ head move under his hand like it didn’t matter. Louis’ hand grabbed Harry’s one that was on his chest and he gave it a little squeeze, not having enough strength to squeeze harder than that. Harry looked behind, seeing through the ivies, and he noticed how the Griever didn’t seem to have noticed them and kept going forward until it reached the wall opposite to them, where the edge they jumped from is. What actually surprised both of them, since Louis was watching even with teary eyes, was that the two rocks Harry used to climb moved to the side, giving space to a huge opening where the Griever passed by.

 _“Should we go?”_ Harry looked back at Louis and asked inside his head, trying out what they discovered they could do. Louis just nodded, still trying to not freak out about the whole telepathy thing between them two. _“Put your hand where mine is and keep the pressure on the wound, I’m going to pick you up and run for the inside before that closes.”_ Harry explained, frowning a bit, not really knowing if Louis could actually hear it but Harry quickly saw he could when Louis nodded again, moving his hand to his chest, next to Harry’s. _“Alright, let’s do this.”_

Harry took his hand off Louis’ chest but the smaller hand was quickly put in place to prevent the bleeding from getting worse and Harry quickly passed one arm under Louis’ legs and one arm around his waist while the smaller arm passed around the broad shoulders, keeping a strong grip on his t-shirt. Harry got up slowly, and as silently as possible, and was starting his way to the other side when the sound of the rocks moving again caught their attention. Knowing their only way of surviving at night would be hidden inside that cave, Harry started to walk faster, almost in a slow run, and he felt when Louis hid his face on his neck, letting out soft whines of pain, making Harry’s heart hurt.

“Hang on, Lou, hang on…” Harry whispered, just letting the strange nickname leave his lips and Louis softly whimpered against his skin. When the green-eyed passed the opening of the cave, he quickly spotted the big Griever with it’s back to them so he scanned the room, spotting some tall boxes in a corner that he was sure it could cover them just fine. _“Almost there…”_

Harry took silent steps towards the boxes and gently sat Louis on the floor, noticing the many tears that were running down his cheeks. Harry took off his t-shirt and put Louis’ hand away from the wound so he could lift his shirt slowly. Louis closed his eyes as Harry was faced with the black hole in Louis’ chest that didn’t seem to be getting any worse than the other Cranks he had seen in the Glade but, either way, he wrapped his large shirt around Louis’ tiny figure, tying the piece of vestuary, making sure the wound was getting as much pressure as needed. Louis bit his lip hard, doing his best not to scream or moan out loud and Harry’s heart clenched at the view, moving fast to sit being the boy with his legs open and to pull the blue-eyed to rest his back against his naked chest, making Louis immediately snuggle against the warm skin, letting low whines escape his thin lips.

“Hurts so bad…” Louis whispered, moving his head until his ear was pressed against Harry’s chest, listening to his heart, as Harry leaner to rest his back on the wall behind him and started passing his hand on the soft hair of the smaller one. “I’m sorry I came inside, if I didn’t we wouldn’t be here, you wouldn’t have to deal with me being in pain or dying and you wouldn’t be sacrificing yourself…”

“No, don’t even try to apologise again! You entered, ok, you broke the rule, we’ll deal with that later, but don’t ever apologise for being in pain or apologise for my own choices. I wouldn’t be a leader if I just let you here to die. I wouldn’t be a decent human being if I just let you die alone and scared. And even if I wasn’t any of those things, I would still make the decision of running inside here just to make sure you were alright because I felt your pain… I don’t know what this between us is but I felt your pain, I heard you in my head… My heart beats faster for you and when I’m with you, I have this feeling of overprotection towards you that I can’t understand but I don’t want it to end either. Seeing you in pain, breaks my heart into million pieces and seeing you smile puts those pieces all back together. I don’t know if we knew each other before this place but you complete me and I promise you Lou…” Harry put his finger under Louis’ chin to make the blue eyes meet with his green ones.

“What?” Louis whispered, his tears falling freely down his cheeks.

“I promise I’ll save you and I’ll take you home.”


	9. ◈ 1.9

 [“The Cure”](http://picsart.com/i/284843834042201)

 

As the night went down, Louis pain became worse to the point of the boy passing out two times in Harry’s arms and also resulting in Harry’s heart to break even more. Through the middle of it, Harry rocked Louis like a little baby until he fell asleep and even though he was so worried about the small one, he couldn’t help but give up to the tiredness weighing on his body and fell asleep. Although, his worry took over his body and he quickly woke up, checking how Louis was and taking a deep breath of relief when he saw the smaller one still sleeping against his chest. His breathing seemed to have calmed down so, to make sure, Harry pressed two fingers on the pale skin of Louis' wrist and, for the next couple of minutes, Harry just stayed back, feeling the pounding of Louis' heart. 

Looking around, Harry noticed some lights seemed to have been turned on, giving a lot more light to the place and giving more possibility for him to explore that place a bit but before he could do that, the rocks seemed to start to tremble and they opened, giving Harry space to see the horrific monster pass through the entrance. As soon as it passed, the rocks closed again, caughting Harry's attention for a couple of seconds before he grabbed Louis to gently hide him better.

The Griever went in the direction of a wall on their left, making Harry think he would stay there to rest or deactivate, he wasn't sure yet on how they functioned or what they were, but he was surprised when the thing didn't do any of those things and, instead, it kept walking forward until the stone wall went up for it to pass through, closing down behind it, just like the entrance door did, making Harry start to notice the pattern.

Suddenly, the entrance door opens and Harry quickly realises it's probably because there was another Griever ready to go in so he gently wake up Louis, who even a bit asleep and sore, gets up with the help of the taller one. The two of them keep their bodies down until they see the Griever enter and they quickly and silently walk out, seeing the rocks covering the entrance once again. Harry adjusts Louis' backpack on his own back and helps Louis climb the rocks, climbing right after him and offering his hands to help the smaller one get the impulse he needs to jump up. Grunting, Louis does it and that's when he lifted his shirt up and untied Harry's t-shirt and noticed how his stung was not black anymore but it was red like a normal wound. Harry, who climbed up on his own, made the move to help the blue-eyed boy but immediately froze when he noticed the wound.

"Wait, it's not black anymore..." Harry murmured and Louis looked at him with a shocked expression on his face. 

"Did I cure myself?" 

"I have no idea... But let's not tell the others until we figure out what the hell just happened..." Harry suggested and Louis nodded, knowing that wouldn't go so well with the others. "Let's go, we still need to take care of that and you still have to get a proper rest, you lost an enormous amount of blood." Harry grabbed Louis' arm and put it on his own shoulders, getting the boy to get up and, automatically, his shirt to go down again, still covered in black. 

They start their way through the unknown section of the Maze, completely forgetting Harry's bloody t-shirt behind, and when they passed by the Griever Harry managed to take down, they noticed some kind of object blinking through the skin. With a look towards Louis, Harry slowly let go of his body and walked to the monster laying down, and grabbed the little knife he had seen on the side of Louis' bag, starting to cut just the blinking spot. As soon as he took the kind of skin away, he was faced with an cylindrical object that he grabbed and cleaned, not knowing what it was at all so he just put it inside the backpack to evaluate it later and walked back towards Louis. Louis leaned towards the taller body, almost feeling like he was going to fall and pass out again, so Harry just picked him up, bridal style, and kept walking towards the exit of the section.

The wall was closed like Harry anticipated but the Griever that they got trapped in there was gone, surprisingly. Not really knowing what to do, Harry approached the  walls and they suddenly opened, making him gasp in surprise but also quickly move to pass through them and get out to what he knew. Knowing his way from there forward, Harry quickly walked in a quick pace through the tall walls of the place he was studying for two years until they arrived the only place they could remember to call home. 

Turning the last corner, with a passed out Louis' in his arms, Harry could finally see the end of the last strange 24 hours. Some Gladers were there, expecting to  see his leader return and as soon as they did, they started calling the others, who quickly approached the ones standing there, still leaving space for Harry to pass through with Louis in his arms. Dylan approached the pair, and after receiving a nod from Harry, he cleared the Gladers of the way so he and Harry could quickly run towards the medbay, still hearing the shocked gasps of the others when seeing Louis' shirt having a big black stain on it.

"Thomas!" Harry erupted through the door of one of the rooms of the medbay, being careful with Louis, still in his arms. The Glader that Thomas was helping quickly got up and left to another room, knowing what he was there for could wait, and Harry laid Louis' on the vacant bed. "He's been bleeding since last night and he passed out a couple times, also he fell and hit his head lightly but you said you gave him some stitches and I completely forgot to check how they were so-" Harry started rambling but stopped when Thomas put a hand on his shoulder.

"Breathe, I will evaluate all that, alright?" Thomas assured and Harry just nodded, receiving a comprehensive smile from the blond one. "I need you two to help me so please don't pass out or hesitate in doing what I'm asking, please!" Thomas looked at Harry and Dylan, who seem a bit shocked but both quickly snapped out of it and nodded, ready to help in anyway possible. "Harry cut his shirt in half and take it off, Dylan get two big bowls of hot and cold water please."

Dylan took off from the room and Harry picked up the big scissors Thomas handed him, starting to cut the shirt Louis had on, throwing it to the side when he was finished, hoping they wouldn't see the black stain as well. Harry hands the scissors again and puts the plastic gloves Thomas left on the bed for him to put as Dylan entered the room again carrying a bowl in each hand, one of them with steam leaving the object. 

For the next two hours, the three of them help Louis in every way they can. His wound was clean, and Harry was very glad all that indicated a sting on his skin was gone, they stitched it up and covered it with some gauze to prevent it from infecting, but also checked his head stitches that weren't affected at all by all that happened, in fact, were surprisingly fine to take off, so Thomas did, leaving a smaller gauze in the zone just in case. Thomas also checked Louis' blood pleasure, concluding it was perfectly fine and Louis didn't need any kind of transfusion but he still would feel a bit sick because of the lost he had. To finish, he connected Louis' vein to a bag of vitamins and liquids so his body could be fed properly, and that was only possible because whoever put them there also left a couple of those every month but they only used it to emergency situations like that one. 

"Are you okay?" Thomas approaches Harry, who had taken off his plastic gloves and was sitting on a chair, next to Louis' bed, looking at the dry blood on his hands. "Here..." Thomas gave Harry a wet towel and Harry sniffed, grabbing the cloth to clean his hands as the door of the room closed softly. "He's alright now, Harry..."

"The whole night, I couldn't close my eyes without seeing his blood take his life away from him... I was feeling his pulse and I'm so sure it stopped under my fingers in a couple of seconds before it returned weekly... He died in my arms and I couldn't do much about it..." Harry looked up at Thomas with teary eyes and the other one just smiled sadly at him and softly grabbed Louis' wrist, to put Harry's fingers there. 

"Can you feel it?" Thomas whispered and Harry nodded, a tear sliding down his cheek. "He's healing, his heart is beating strong, he doesn't have any internal injuries whatsoever, and he's definitely not leaving us anytime soon and for that long." Thomas smiled sweetly at him and cleaned the second tear that fell on his leader's cheek. "Stay here as long long as you like, I'm going to finish with Chuck and I'll be right back with clean clothes for the both of you, some food and some water for you as well." 

"Thank you, Thomas..." Harry murmured, looking up to the other one as he got up.

"You don't need to thank me, boss." Thomas joked and Harry chuckled, watching the other one leave quietly.

Harry sighed deeply, keeping his fingers on Louis’ wrist so he could calm his own heart, still filled with fear. He cleared his face and laid his eyes on the bed, next to Louis’ body so he could try and rest for a bit, considering he only slept a couple of hours, if that, during the night.

"What the hell, Harry?!" The door opened again and a stressed Liam passed through it, his tone high as he spoke, interrupting Harry's attempt to rest. "What the bloody hell is wrong with you?! Entering the Maze at night like that for someone like him?!" Liam blindly pointed at Louis, not even sparing a single gaze to the body laid on the bed.    
  
"First of all, you're going to put the volume down because Louis was put in two very risky surgeries in less than 24 hours and he needs to rest." Harry got up, turning towards Liam and, in consequence, not being able to feel Louis' pulse anymore. "And second, Louis, because that's his name and you just sounded like you suddenly forgot about it, is a Glader just like you and me so I don't see why I could run out there to save you and I couldn't for him!" Especially him. "And last, we always respect the members of our family, that's what everyone in here deserves, and you above all should know that! So, I ask you Liam, what the hell?!" Harry finished, his finger pointed at Liam.    
  
"He broke the rules!" Liam tried to argue.   
  
"And he's going to pay for it but not with his life Liam! Seriously, what it wrong with you?! You would never let someone die for a punishment, you never did when other broke rules, what changed now?!"    
  
"You risked your own life for someone you barely know and only caused trouble since he arrived!"   
  
"Stop acting like I wouldn't do it for literally everyone out there because we both know I would!"   
  
"For fuck's sake Harry!" Liam threw a clean t-shirt at Harry, who quickly caught it and put it on as soon as he saw what it was. "I'm just saying you should have fucking thought better about it! I'm not saying you should've let him die but maybe you should've had considered what Zyot said about him!" Liam laughed a bit when he saw Harry's brow lifting. "Yes, Harry, I heard what Zyot literally screamed on the forest. You should look into that before you do anything else that danger towards the Greenie."    
  
"Geez Liam, just go seriously, we're done talking about this." Harry sat on his chair again, returning his gaze towards Louis.   
  
"Just... I hope there isn't any next time, but if there is, stop for two seconds to remember who you are and what you represent to all of us in here. The panic that installed the second those door closed, leaving you inside, was higher than the panic any of them felt when they woke up in that box... You're like our father figure in here, even if you're not the oldest, you're the wisest. You're the one who came up with our life support and you know how they see you... You're right about you doing this for anyone and I know you would, but I also know that for a Greenie you would be a little concerned for yourself too, especially if you knew nothing about him... That's what pisses me off, not that you care about him, but the fact that I know you well enough to know you're lying about something and I'm sure Louis is involved too... And what hurts is that you don't trust me enough to tell what it is or you just don't understand but you don't want to talk as well... I'm sorry I entered here and said those things but you scared the hell out of us with what you did." Liam crossed his arms and turned to leave.   
  
"I just did what a leader is supposed to do..." Harry murmured and Liam didn't turn around to face him, just nodded slowly and left the room quietly, very differently from the way he got in.   
  
Before Liam could really close the door, Thomas entered again, a confused look mirrored in his face, that just deepened when he saw that Harry's torso was not naked like it was when he left the room.    
  
"Was he alright? He seemed distraught..." Thomas closed the door and gave Harry a small bag, where he found some food and one closed jar with water.    
  
"Yeah, he just came to say that he was concerned by the way I entered the Maze so unexpectedly, that's all... Meanwhile, he brought me the clean t-shirt, sorry about that..." Harry watched as Thomas placed one t-shirt on the bed, next to Louis, and another one in a chair close by. "And thanks for the things you brought..."    
  
"No problem at all and you don't have to apologize, you couldn't guess that Liam would bring you fresh clothes... Can you help me put that one on Louis? I need you to support his body up so I can dress him..." Thomas checked Louis' pulse and wrote something in a notepad that he took from his pants pocket.    
  
"Of course!" Harry handed Thomas the t-shirt that was left on the bed before he got up, leaving the bag where he was previously seating, and sat again, on the bed next to Louis. Gently, Harry pulled Louis' body up, supporting his weight with one arm and his head with the other, facing the pale back of the blue-eyed. "Is this good?"   
  
"Perfect!" Thomas sat on the other side of the bed, getting face to face with Louis, and he gently dressed the smaller one with the clean t-shirt, being extremely careful with his head and chest injuries. "All done..."   
  
Instead of laying the smaller one down again, Harry laid back against the headboard of the back, keeping the blue-eyed safe against his chest, while moving one of his hands to steady him by his waist and moving the other to the soft hair of the other, passing by it, gently, away from his injury. Thomas smiled at the view and silently moved to the other side of the room where he picked up the bloody shirts that they cut off of Louis' body. Finally taking a first good glance at it, Thomas frowned when he noticed some black stains mixed with the red he knew it was from the wound but what threw him away the most was that he knew that black blood would have to come from a sting and Louis didn't seem to have any when they took both t-shirts off.    
  
"I know..." Harry murmured before Thomas could say anything. "He had a sting during the night and in the morning there was nothing..." Harry continued and Thomas' eyes widened a little bit.    
  
"Is that normal?" Thomas sat at the end of the bed, t-shirts still in hand and a puzzled expression on his face.   
  
"Never happened before but..." Harry looked at Louis for a couple of seconds before turning his full attention to the brown eyes directed to him. "Thomas, no one can know about this... We'll just say I was the one making that when I killed the Griever..." Thomas' eyes widened  even more. "But absolutely no one can know that Louis' body cured itself from a Griever sting... Especially that he's more than immune..." Harry sighed, looking with a concerned look at Thomas. "He's the cure."


End file.
